08/18/26

Moving to Florida to start a school, thanks to school choice

FREEPORT, Fla. – When Lindy Wood first heard about school choice in Florida, she was living in her home state...

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Our Latest

08/18/26

Ron Matus

Moving to Florida to start a school, thanks to school choice

FREEPORT, Fla. – When Lindy Wood first heard about school choice in Florida, she was living in her home state...

07/28/26

Lisa Buie

PodcastED: Alum kicks off the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program's 25th anniversary with ed choice success story

On this episode, recent college graduate Jasmine Meriedy shares her inspiring journey as a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship recipient and...

07/27/26

Ron Matus

School choice helps a wild school put down new roots in Florida

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. – Once they decided to sell their teaching farm in Indiana, Amanda Jo and John Boener knew they...

07/24/26

NextSteps Staff

Panel shares Florida a la carte learning story with lawmakers from across America

Three years after Florida lawmakers established a new education savings account program that empowered parents to customize their children’s education,...

07/23/26

Special to NextSteps

Florida Chamber and Step Further form a strategic partnership

Editor's note: This post was originally published by our partner organization, Step Up, Step Further Scholarship Fund. Florida Chamber of...

07/23/26

Special to NextSteps

AFC Scholarship Fund and Step Up For Students to partner and bring Education Freedom Tax Credit to Florida students and families

Editor's note: This guest post is from our partner organization, Step Up, Step Further Scholarship Fund. Exciting news for Florida...

07/20/26

Lisa Buie

Fifty years of kicks and katas prepare Tampa Bay karate family to open dojo-based co-op

TAMPA, Fla. — A half-century ago, John and Cindy Ingram built a strong reputation emphasizing family. Besides their children, their...

07/14/26

Roger Mooney

Through their books, Max and Gavin want to empower young readers to believe in themselves

Maxwell “Max” Johnson knows something about you. Maybe you know it, too. Maybe not. Either way, Max wants you to...

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...

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Student & Family Stories

08/18/26

Ron Matus

Moving to Florida to start a school, thanks to school choice

FREEPORT, Fla. – When Lindy Wood first heard about school choice in Florida, she was living in her home state...

1 2 3 … 2,074 Next »

07/28/26

Lisa Buie

PodcastED: Alum kicks off the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program's 25th anniversary with ed choice success story

On this episode, recent college graduate Jasmine Meriedy shares her inspiring journey as a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship recipient and...

07/27/26

Ron Matus

School choice helps a wild school put down new roots in Florida

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. – Once they decided to sell their teaching farm in Indiana, Amanda Jo and John Boener knew they...

1 2 3 … 1,037 Next »

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Future of Teaching

07/20/26

Lisa Buie

Fifty years of kicks and katas prepare Tampa Bay karate family to open dojo-based co-op

TAMPA, Fla. — A half-century ago, John and Cindy Ingram built a strong reputation emphasizing family. Besides their children, their...

1 2 3 … 4,612 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...

1 2 3 … 4,612 Next »

07/20/26

Lisa Buie

Fifty years of kicks and katas prepare Tampa Bay karate family to open dojo-based co-op

TAMPA, Fla. — A half-century ago, John and Cindy Ingram built a strong reputation emphasizing family. Besides their children, their...

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...

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