07/01/26

Florida Tax Credit Scholarship celebrates 25th anniversary

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, Step Up For Students today marks the 25th anniversary of Florida’s landmark education choice scholarship program. The Florida Tax Credit...

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Our Latest

07/06/26

Lisa Buie

Step Up For Students’ Ron Matus shares Florida success story on Defense of Freedom Institute’s Freedom to Learn podcast

For years, critics of education choice have been saying it will unleash an educational apocalypse in Florida. But what’s unfolding...

07/01/26

NextSteps Staff

Florida Tax Credit Scholarship celebrates 25th anniversary

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, Step Up For Students today marks the 25th anniversary of Florida’s landmark education choice scholarship program. The Florida Tax Credit...

06/26/26

John Kirtley

Step Up For Students founder shares Florida’s ed choice journey at Harvard University conference

Editor’s note: Harvard University Program on Education Policy and Governance devoted its annual spring research conference to helping policymakers assess...

06/15/26

Lisa Buie

South Florida groups join the chorus urging teachers union to drop lawsuit to end education choice scholarships and close charter schools

Nine days after the state teachers union sued to strip Florida families of the right to choose their children’s education,...

06/15/26

Ron Matus

At the ranch school, core academics come with cows and confidence

LAUREL HILL, Fla. – Bryan and Laine Baker didn’t set out to start a school. They were focused on their...

06/10/26

Lisa Buie

Step Up For Students conference supports innovation as more families seek varied options

ORLANDO, Fla. — As public education has evolved from a one-size-fits-all system to one where families are empowered to choose...

06/01/26

Ron Matus

School choice and innovation in small-town U.S.A.

GLEN ST. MARY, Fla. – Baker County is in a piney corner of North Florida that hugs the Georgia line...

05/27/26

Lisa Buie

Tampa Bay education choice supporters to teachers union: Dropping lawsuit will save children, families, and communities

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — Surrounded by students in crisp school uniforms, a group of educators, faith leaders, and families urged Florida’s teachers union to drop a lawsuit that seeks to end the nation’s largest...

05/19/26

Lisa Buie

Step Up For Students thought leader shares Florida education choice success story with students at the University of Austin

Students at the University of Austin are getting an overview of the nation’s rapidly expanding education choice movement, including its...

05/15/26

Lisa Buie

Education choice supporters protest union-backed lawsuit that would strip them of access to learning options

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Parents, students, and education leaders who gathered at the Florida Capitol on Thursday had a message for the Florida Education Association, the teachers union that filed a lawsuit to...

05/13/26

NextSteps Staff

COMMENTARY: Expect strong response to protect education choice for Florida families

You may have read or seen a story this week about the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers union,...

05/11/26

Lisa Buie

More Florida districts take the lead in developing learning options for part-time public school students

For a glimpse into the future of public education, visit Florida. Nearly three years after landmark legislation gave Sunshine State...

05/08/26

Roger Mooney

Rashad Walker has a crafty way to cure boredom

Rashad Walker’s big idea was born last September in room 429 of the children’s ward of Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola...

04/27/26

Lisa Buie

New Florida law offers private schools more relief from zoning rules

A new state law has replaced Florida’s patchwork of local zoning rules that had prevented some small private schools from...

04/22/26

Ron Matus

Which state is next for a Catholic school comeback?

By Lauren May, Mary Camp, and Ron Matus First, Florida. Now, Indiana. Which state will be next for a Catholic...

04/21/26

Special to NextSteps

Step Up For Students founder and chairman speaks on education choice at Florida TaxWatch policy forum

Editor's note: This post is shared by our sister organization, Step Up, Step Further Scholarship Fund, a new federal scholarship...

04/10/26

Roger Mooney

Noah has big goals, and a Florida Ed Choice scholarship is helping him reach them

TRINITY, Fla. – Noah Allen was in middle school when he began to teach himself Latin. College-level Latin. He did that...

04/02/26

NextSteps Staff

Florida surpasses the 500,000 milestone as demand for K-12 education choice scholarships continues to soar

Less than two months after the application season began, record-breaking interest continues with more than 500,000 students applying for Florida’s K-12 education choice...

03/25/26

Ron Matus

More bright spots for Catholic schools in America

By Lauren May and Ron Matus Florida continues to be a standout in Catholic school growth. But the latest national...

03/16/26

Ron Matus

From New York to Florida for Jewish school ‘perfection’

TAMPA, Fla. – Shuli Goldenberg didn’t need to see Tampa Torah Academy to know it would be just right for...

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Student & Family Stories

07/06/26

Lisa Buie

Step Up For Students’ Ron Matus shares Florida success story on Defense of Freedom Institute’s Freedom to Learn podcast

For years, critics of education choice have been saying it will unleash an educational apocalypse in Florida. But what’s unfolding...

1 2 3 … 2,070 Next »

05/15/26

Lisa Buie

Education choice supporters protest union-backed lawsuit that would strip them of access to learning options

05/08/26

Roger Mooney

Rashad Walker has a crafty way to cure boredom

Rashad Walker’s big idea was born last September in room 429 of the children’s ward of Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola...

1 2 3 … 1,035 Next »

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Future of Teaching

04/27/26

Lisa Buie

New Florida law offers private schools more relief from zoning rules

A new state law has replaced Florida’s patchwork of local zoning rules that had prevented some small private schools from...

1 2 3 … 4,611 Next »

02/20/26

Ron Matus

In this small town, a classical school is rising, and families are signing up in droves

PALATKA, Fla. — All Risa Byrd wanted to do was start a little preschool. That’s it. But then the former...

1 2 3 … 4,611 Next »

04/27/26

Lisa Buie

New Florida law offers private schools more relief from zoning rules

A new state law has replaced Florida’s patchwork of local zoning rules that had prevented some small private schools from...

02/20/26

Ron Matus

In this small town, a classical school is rising, and families are signing up in droves

PALATKA, Fla. — All Risa Byrd wanted to do was start a little preschool. That’s it. But then the former...

11/04/25

Ron Matus

At this microschool, it’s math at the beach and swimming with the sharks

TAVERNIER, Fla. – Every year, millions of students across America learn the foundational concept of place value in math. But...

08/12/25

Special to NextSteps

School choice in Wisconsin: Positive results, less cost

By George Mitchell The parents of nearly 60,000 Wisconsin children choose to enroll them in one of the state’s private...

04/22/25

Matthew Ladner

The inevitable is always certain but not always punctual: self-driving school carpools

Back in 2017, techno-optimist Jason Bedrick made the skeptical Robert Pondiscio a bet on the adoption rate for self-driving cars...

03/26/25

Lisa Buie

Former New York charter school authorization boss brings her tough but fair reputation to Florida

When Florida lawmakers established the first statewide Charter School Review Commission in 2022. The National Association of Charter School Authorizers...

03/17/25

Ron Matus

On track to accelerate as education choice expands

Andrea Leib has long been ahead of the curve. Twenty years ago, the former public school teacher, guidance counselor, and...

03/10/25

Ron Matus

Where kids still play in the woods

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – Millions of students in American public schools are lucky if they get 30 minutes of recess...

02/04/25

Matthew Ladner

Nation’s Report Card documents continued academic decline

The NAEP released 2024 results last week, and the results continued to disappoint, especially for disadvantaged student groups. While scores...

01/07/25

Matthew Ladner

Growth vs. decline

The Brennan Center has released projections of congressional reapportionment following the 2030 Census. The Brennan Center projects Florida and Texas...

12/18/24

Ron Matus

This educator skipped the traditional teacher route and headed straight into entrepreneurship

DAVENPORT, Fla. – Valeria Oquendo didn’t set out to be an entrepreneur. “Ms. V,” as her students call her, had...

12/17/24

Matthew Ladner

ProPublica goes full Dale Gribble

The television classic “King of the Hill” included a character known as Dale, who despite being a conspiracy theorist is...

12/10/24

Matthew Ladner

Ivy League Plus: Destructive or overrated?

David Brooks has a piece in the Atlantic called How the Ivy League Broke America: The meritocracy isn’t working...

12/04/24

Matthew Ladner

Surpluses are just a party, and parties…

During World War II the British kept a group of stately manors for high-ranking German military prisoners. The British treated...

11/26/24

Lisa Buie

'If you don't innovate, you will stagnate': Florida charter schools urged to evolve

Education is no longer about students sitting in rows of desks from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. And school choice,...

11/13/24

Lisa Buie

Rising parent demand stretches Florida’s Personalized Education Program to its limit for 2024-25

Florida’s scholarship program for K-12 students who don’t attend school full-time has turned on the “no vacancy” sign. The Personalized...

10/15/24

Matthew Ladner

Families adapt to the dysfunctional K-12 system — if they can afford it

Education Next published a piece recently by Holly Korbey called The Tutoring Revolution, which reads in part: Recent research suggests...

06/12/24

Travis Pillow

Florida ranks No. 5 nationally for children's education

Of the 50 states, Florida held the No. 5 spot for education in a national report on child wellbeing released...

06/10/24

Lisa Buie

School field trips making a comeback as education savings accounts allow more opportunities to learn by doing

TAMPA, Florida — The 22 high schoolers at Integrity Tabernacle Christian Academy donned their school T-shirts and left at dawn...

05/29/24

Matthew Ladner

What do parents want? It’s not hard to decipher

EdChoice retained the polling firm Morning Consult to survey a nationally representative sample of more than 1,500 American parents in...

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