ORLANDO, Fla. — The whiplash of uncertainty has buffeted the nation’s charter school movement during the past five years. First, COVID-19 disrupted learning for millions of students . That was, followed by restrictions on federal grant money. Then came a lawsuit challenging the public status of charter schools. 

The leader of the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools empathized as the movement’s annual conference kicked off on Monday. 

“Starting, running and teaching at a charter school has never been easy,” the alliance’s CEO Starlee Coleman said during her keynote speech to more than 4,000 charter school representatives. She said plenty of changes lie ahead. 

 “Some of the changes you’re going to like, and some will be hard.”  

But charter school supporters also had plenty to celebrate, including the sector’s growth alongside private school choice, students who outperformed district peers on national tests, and state laws that require charters to receive a share of capital funding. The U.S. Department of Education also infused an additional $60 million into the fund for charter schools, bringing the total to $500 million to support charter school expansion.  

Leaders also hailed the opportunities created by the rise of private school education savings accounts, or ESAs, which have skyrocketed in popularity in states that have passed them.  

“Choice is working. Choice is here to stay,” said Hanna Skandera, CEO of the Daniels Fund and a former secretary of education in New Mexico. Skandera was one of a four-member panel that discussed the future of charter schools.  

Leaders in Texas and Florida discussed how to seize those opportunities by offering a la carte courses to students with ESAs. Florida, where in 2023 lawmakers made all K-12 scholarship programs into ESAs that are universally available  and created the Personal Education Program for students not enrolled full-time in a public or private school, has already recruited school districts and charter schools to provide access to part-time classes.  The latest to sign on is Charter Schools USA, which announced a collaboration with Step Up For Students earlier this week to expand options for students.  

"This is the future, and it's great to see,” said Derrell Bradford, president of 50CAN and who serves on several charter school boards. “These sorts of collaborations are what happen when families are in the driver's seat, and they have real resources to direct the education of their children. I hope more states and providers follow them on the path to educational pluralism." 

Texas won’t start offering its ESA program until 2026, but in preparation a coalition of charter school leaders has already started a pilot program for private-pay students at four schools. They offer a la carte classes online and in person, including some after school.  

“We think this is an opportunity, not as a threat,” said Raphael Gang, K-12 education director at Stand Together Trust.  

The panel advised those considering offering part-time services to capitalize on their strengths when deciding what to offer, start small and educate parents on how to access the programs.  

In Florida, where education choice scholarship programs have been in place since 1999, representatives shared the history leading up to the state’s 2023 passage of House Bill 1, which converted all choice scholarships into ESAs and made them available to all K-12 students.  That law also established a new ESA, the Personalized Education Program, for students who are not enrolled full-time in a public or private school. PEP allows parents to use $8,000 per student to create a customized education for their children. 

“It has been a game-changer,” said Keith Jacobs, assistant director of provider development at Step Up For Students. Jacobs, a former charter school leader, works to recruit and onboard charter schools and school districts as providers of part-time services for ESA students. 

Jacobs said school choice used to exist only for families who could afford private school tuition or buy a home in a certain ZIP code, but ESAs have taken choice to a new level. 

“We have placed the funds in the hands of the parents,” he said.  

What does that look like?  

It might be a virtual class in the morning, band at a public school in the afternoon, and a session with a private tutor.  

“Or it might be ‘My child needs an AP bio class and the charter school down the street has a good bio teacher,’” he said. 

 Charter Schools USA Florida Superintendent Dr. Eddie Ruiz said the decision to offer courses to part-time students was easy given the demand for flexibility. 

 “Charter Schools USA believes in innovation,” Ruiz said.  “It’s given parents the flexibility to really design their student’s education.” 

He said when he approached his principals about the idea, they wondered how it could be done. Ruiz compared it to Amazon.  

“Parents can just pick and choose,” he said. “Whatever it may be, they design their educational experience.” 

The implementation will look different for each state based on the laws, but in Florida, approved providers can list their offerings and prices on an online platform, where parents can purchase the services with their ESA funds.  

Charter schools set their prices based on local costs, said Adam Emerson, executive director of the Office of School Choice for the Florida Department of Education. In calculating those, leaders should not overlook operational costs, such as putting the students in the school information system.  

Emerson said serving ESA families is a financial win for charters, but also the chance to make a positive difference for students in their communities. 

“Yes, it’s a revenue stream, but it’s also a calling,” he said. 

 

Editor's note: This post provides a parent's perspective to supplement our recent white paper, "A Taste of À La Carte Learning," which spotlights the rise of unconventional learning options in Florida. Thousands of Sunshine State parents are now using state-supported education savings accounts to create unique learning programs for their children. 

STUART, Fla. — Kassandra Rodriguez thought she could teach her son Zachary to become a better writer, but no. She gave him prompts she thought would spark his creativity – like, If you could make up any flavor of ice cream, what would it be? – only to get one-sentence responses.

Both of Rodriguez’s children, Zachary, 11, and Cameron, 8, have special needs that qualify them for the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities. That ESA, created by the state 10 years ago, gives families the flexibility to direct funding to various educational programs and providers. On average, each one is worth about $10,000 a year.

After doing some research, Rodriguez found a writing teacher on an online platform, Outschool. The teacher lives in Canada. Only three other students attended the one-hour-a-week slot (including, amazingly, another ESA kid from Florida). And Zachary loved it. Sometimes the teacher would kick things off by reading from a graphic children’s novel – say, “Wings of Fire” – then engaging students in a conversation.

“That seemed to get the juices moving,” Rodriguez said.

Soon, Zach was writing inspired, two- to three-page essays. Even better, he could take the class in the car while Rodriguez drove him and Cam to other educational activities.

Stretch that one example to more than a dozen other providers for Rodriguez’s sons, and you begin to see what’s possible with ESAs and a la carte learning.

Florida is on the cutting edge of what’s coming.

***

Last year, the Sunshine State moved to universal education choice. But even before that historic shift, thousands of parents were customizing their child’s education, using ESAs to mix and match from a growing universe of providers. Together, these parents and providers are pioneering new approaches to teaching and learning that bypass traditional schools. Homeschoolers have been doing that for decades. But now, with state support, even more families can give it a go, in numbers big enough to ripple through the entire system.

With ESAs, “You can make whatever education program you want,” Rodriguez said. “After meeting more people, and seeing what’s out there, I realized I can make things happen. I can have what I want for my boys.”

What Rodriguez wants includes two of the la carte providers featured in our new white paper, “A Taste of A La Carte Learning.” Both Surf Skate Science and Eye of a Scientist offer popular and hands-on approaches to science instruction.

But the family’s a la carte adventure hardly ends there.

Zachary is diagnosed with dyslexia, ADHD, and a speech disorder. Cameron also has a speech disorder.

Before the family moved to Florida from Iowa in 2020, Zachary had been enrolled in a private school, where he experienced bullying and fell behind academically. That experience is what led Rodriguez to try homeschooling.

Rodriguez uses her sons’ ESAs to pay for speech therapy from the same therapist they used in Iowa, only now they access the services online. Ditto for Zach’s dyslexia tutor. Both of those individuals have credentials that make them eligible for Florida ESA funding.

Rodriguez is also using the ESA to “unbundle” individual classes at nearby schools.

ESA enthusiasts have been talking up this possibility for years. In Florida, thousands of schools, including public schools, could unbundle their services if they wanted. A few examples of that are happening here and here.

Rodriguez asked several microschools if they’d let her boys take a few classes instead of enrolling full time. Some rejected the idea. But a couple said, “Yeah, we can do that.”

At one, both boys took several classes, including “simple machines” for Zach and “collaborative building” for Cam. Both involved science and engineering instruction. At the other, both boys took art and theater. The latter class met weekly for two hours for a semester, and it culminated in a community production of “Aladdin.”

There’s more. The ESA pays for Zach’s membership on a competitive traveling LEGO robotics team. And for both boys, it’ll soon pay for recreational league lacrosse and piano lessons with a music teacher.

***

Rodriguez uses the ESAs for art supplies, science kits, a book club, and BitsBox, a subscription service that teaches computer coding. She’s also purchased a variety of home education curricula and supports, including Power Homeschool, All About Reading, Singapore Math, and Story of the World.

“I overlap some curriculum because I’m afraid I’m leaving something out,” she said.

The ESAs, Rodriguez said, incentivize bargain hunting. For example, she considered enrolling her boys in a writing class at a third microschool. But the classes cost $70 an hour, while the Outschool course was $14 an hour. She and the boys also tried out another writing teacher – this one in England – but they didn’t think she was as engaging as the one in Canada.

Blazing trails on the choice frontier isn’t easy.

Zach and Cam’s schedule requires a lot of time and mileage. Their programs and providers are scattered across three counties. Some are an hour from their house.

Rodriguez is a stay-at-home mom, in part because a traffic accident a decade ago resulted in long-term injuries that keep her from working. But it’s a mixed blessing, because the situation has allowed her to devote more time to her kids’ educational needs. Also, Rodriguez’s husband is a surgeon. She knows her family can pay upfront for educational expenses and await reimbursement from the ESA in ways that some families can’t.

Still, Florida’s increasingly choice-driven education system is moving toward greater equity. Every year, more families, particularly those disadvantaged by poverty or disability, gain more power to direct education dollars the way they think is best.

***

Rodriguez has no doubt this approach works for her family.

She frequently gives her sons tests, and they often showcase their knowledge with projects and presentations. Rodriguez also recently used ESA funds for her boys to take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, a common standardized test. She said she wants to know how they’re doing relative to students their age and whether her approach is working.

Florida law does not require students like Zach and Cam, who are using the FESUA scholarship, to take a standardized norm-referenced test in reading and math. However, such testing is required for students using the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, and the Personalized Educational Program scholarship. The latter is a new ESA, created in 2023, for students not enrolled full-time in public or private schools and whose parents are customizing their education programming.

Rodriguez said she knows from other assessments that Zach is now reading in the 80^th percentile for his age, far ahead of where he was in his prior school.

“I like that we can learn what we want – and at our own pace,” she said. “I saw Zachary struggle a lot with his dyslexia. Now he’s right where he’s supposed to be.”

Being able to access what Zach needed, when he needed it, was big. “Whatever it is, we can nip it in the bud,” Rodriguez said. “We don’t have to wait. It’s instant. We can just get a tutor and go.”

Flexibility has other benefits.

Last year, the family made multiple trips to Texas to see Rodriguez’s father before he passed away. Each time, they stayed a week or two, quickly making arrangements that might have been more difficult for a family tied to traditional schooling.

Rodriguez has told her boys they can go to a traditional school, and she’s shown them some possibilities. But so far, they have shown no interest. Truth be told, they think some of the traditional schools look like jails.

“With the amount of freedom and the amount of things we’ve gotten to do,” she said, “I don’t think we could go back.”

 

 

JUPITER, Fla. — When you start your own school, you make the rules. You can even bring your dog.

The Andersen Academy serves 16 middle school students, nearly all of whom use state-supported education choice scholarships. Founder Carrie Andersen calls it a “concierge homeschool,” for parents who homeschool but want customized support.

She started it three years ago, after 22 years as an accomplished English teacher in one of the nation’s biggest school districts. She said she was tired of a system that smothered her knowledge and creativity and nearly extinguished the love of learning in her daughter, Brooke.

In second grade, Brooke wanted to be the female Albert Einstein. But a few years later, some students and teachers were badgering her for taking extra time with standardized tests, as allowed by her individual education plan. Meanwhile, repeated practice tests, which Brooke had to take despite scoring at the highest levels, aggravated her ADHD and made her physically ill.

“It all became recipe for disaster,” Andersen said. “She began to doubt herself and her abilities.”

At mom’s school, Brooke has rolled through four years of math in two years. Now she’s ready to take AP precalculus, a class usually reserved for advanced 11^th- and 12^th-graders, as a ninth grader this fall.

What that before-and-after shows, Andersen said, is “the system failed us.”

Thankfully, the system is changing.

As a teacher who founded her own school, Andersen is helping to lead that change.

The Anderson Academy is housed in a few rooms on the second floor of a nondescript office building. There are classic movie posters on the wall, a cutout of Daryl Dixon from “The Walking Dead,” and free-roaming Maggie, a Catahoula leopard dog whom Andersen rescued three years ago.

For Andersen, it adds up to freedom.

“I get to be the best teacher here,” she said. “There is nobody in my way. There’s nobody telling you what to do who has never spent a minute in your shoes.

“I am 100 percent free. And I love it.”

In choice-rich Florida, it’s easy to find former public school teachers who have leveraged choice programs to create their own schools and other learning options. And it’s noteworthy how many went their own way in part because of frustration with the education of their own children. (See here, here, and here.)

Andersen left the district in 2020. She had medical conditions that made her more susceptible to catching COVID-19, and more likely to suffer serious complications.

That fall, she started a learning pod to tutor a handful of students in her home. It worked out so well that Andersen told her husband, also a public school teacher, “I can do this.”

Six months later, The Andersen Academy was born.

The difference between working in the system and working for herself was stark.

Andersen recalled one year when administrators told her and other teachers that they’d be teaching state standards using a packet of reading content they were given. “The most boring material you’ve ever seen,” she said. Andersen thought her students would learn more if they dove deep into “To Kill a Mockingbird.” So, she ignored the directives, followed her gut, and endured charges of insubordination.

Once state test scores were released, one of the administrators rushed to tell her that her students had knocked it out of the park. “How did you do it?”  the administrator asked.

“I thought I was being punked,” Andersen said.

“I had to fight every day to do what was best for my kids,” she continued. Leaving her students and colleagues was heart-wrenching, she said. “But I was tired of fighting.”

Nearly all of Andersen’s students are also from public schools. They couldn’t be happier.

Many are strong students who nonetheless struggled in some subjects. Many experienced bullying.

The Andersen Academy does not give standardized tests. Progress monitoring is done with portfolios.

(Andersen’s students are registered homeschoolers, and nearly all of them use Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities. That scholarship is an education savings account administered by nonprofits like Step Up For Students. Unlike the state’s other choice scholarships, it doesn’t require that students take a norm-referenced test. The parents pay Andersen out of pocket, then get reimbursed through the scholarship for home education and evaluation services.)

Every Andersen Academy student has a personalized learning plan made in tandem with them and their parents. The approach to teaching and learning depends on the student and subject.

About half the students come every day for a full day. The others come for a half day or less, and a couple, including one who lives in New Mexico (and does not have a Florida scholarship), join online.

The students do a lot of project-based collaborations with peers. They do community service and field trips on Fridays. They also enjoy a “Zen Den” for mental breaks, an art room for creativity, and the protective company of sweet Maggie.

Hyka McDowell, a seventh grader, attended public and private schools before enrolling in The Andersen Academy two years ago. At the time, Andersen said, she was a grade level or two behind in core subjects. Now she’s on grade level or ahead.

Hyka said the other students are friendly and supportive, and the school’s size is a plus. In a typical school, “you can get overwhelmed,” she said. “But in this school, you don’t have that problem. I love it.”

Andersen said most of her students will probably go to private schools for high school, but some will return to public schools. Her daughter is one of them, though she’ll be going back with her confidence restored.

“She’s walking proof,” Andersen said, “that I made the right decision.”

 

Cooper Campen is the spelling bee champion of Alachua County who plays the trumpet, reads John Grisham novels, and would like to be a mechanical engineer. Or a doctor. Or a lawyer.

He is 12 years old, a young man of many interests. Science. History. Music. Words.

And this: Education choice.

Cooper, 12, is homeschooled in Gainesville and uses the Personalized Education Program (PEP) that comes with his Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. The scholarship is made possible by corporate donations to Step Up For Students.

Cooper is so invested in his education that he followed House Bill 1, which included the historic PEP, as it made its way through the 2023 Florida Legislature.

“We watched every single subcommittee,” Cooper said. “Everything.”

How many preteens do you know who did that?

“Cooper understands it more than most kids. He understands school choice,” Shirley said.

He gets that from his parents, Shirley and Brad. Shirley is a former teacher. Brad is an auctioneer. They both watched the progress of HB1 on TV.

“I thought it was a very monumental bill,” Shirley said.

HB1 allows for an Education Savings Account (ESA) for homeschooled students. This gives families flexibility in how they spend their scholarship funds, enabling them to tailor an education to best meet their children’s needs.

Shirley and Brad homeschool Cooper and his brother, Alexander, 9.

“PEP has allowed us and other families to provide a unique home education for each child,” Shirley said.

 

The Campens use PEP to pay for the curriculum for their sons – sixth grade for Cooper and fourth grade for Alexander. They purchase textbooks and science and math kits. PEP covers fees for flag football and basketball leagues to satisfy the physical education component of their homeschooling. It pays for field trips to museums. Cooper and Alexander attend music classes at Cornerstone Academy in Gainesville, using the school’s à la carte program.

They also use PEP to pay for music lessons for Cooper (the trumpet) and Alexander (guitar).

“The trumpet is also a really, really, really cool instrument,” Cooper said. “Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie played it. All of these really, really, really cool guys played the trumpet.”

Cooper has been a fan of Armstrong for as long as he can remember. He has yet to read a book about Armstrong, which is surprising since he’s read a book about everything else.

Science fiction, historical fiction, history textbooks, survival books, biographies … the list goes on.

“My parents read to me a lot when I was really little, and I ended up learning how to read when I was three years old,” Cooper said. “I absolutely love reading, and I read pretty much anything I can get my hands on. If you can read it, you can learn anything.”

Cooper and Alexander always have a book in hand. They’re the type of kids who are told to close the book, turn off the light, and go to bed.

 

Cooper said reading all those words on all those pages is what led him to the regional spelling bee March 25 in Jacksonville. The winner advances to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May in Washington, D.C.

Cooper became the Alachua County champ in February when he correctly spelled “rasorial,” which is the adjective used to describe what birds do when they scratch the ground in search of food.

The contest was intense for Cooper and his family. His dad walked out of the room a couple of times while his mom sat on the edge of her seat. Brad Campen snapped a picture of Cooper sitting among rows of empty seats. Most of the other contestants had been eliminated. As he waited his turn, Cooper leaned forward and put his head in his hands.

Deep in concentration?

Praying,” he said.

There were 35 contestants in the spelling bee. Cooper was the only one who is homeschooled. He prefers that, he said, over attending school. He did attend a private school in Gainesville for a few years but didn’t like it because he would finish the work ahead of the other students. He would spend the rest of the class reading a book.

“With homeschooling, the curriculum is definitely more challenging,” Cooper said. “If I’m having trouble in one subject, we can work on that. And if I'm really good at another subject, and don't need to really do any more in it, then we can move on.”

Plus, Shirley said, the curriculum can be customized to meet the child’s interests and needs.

“We love that Florida has become so education choice-friendly and so innovative in education because every student is different,” Shirley said. “Every student needs a different kind of education. And it's really, really awesome that we have so many options here.”

Shirley said homeschooling is not for every child or every family. But for those who do well in that setting, the PEP program is a boon. That’s why the family watched the 2023 legislative session. And that’s why Cooper served as a student page in Tallahassee during the first week of this year’s legislative session.

“Cooper has always been a kid who’s really interested in the law and politics and how all of that works,” Shirley said.

He received a taste of that because the student pages had to present a mock bill and participate in mock sessions. Cooper met several lawmakers, including House Speaker Pro Tempore Chuck Clemons, R-Newberry, and state Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, who sponsored HB1 in 2023.

The family followed the legislative session this year, as well, hoping PEP would be expanded.

“We believe learning is a lifestyle, not just a means to obtain a diploma or degree,” Shirley said. “PEP is allowing our boys more learning opportunities than ever, and we are very thankful for that.”

 Traditional school wasn’t working for Alexander Luther. The 15-year-old, who has autism spectrum disorder, would get overstimulated and tired toward the end of the 6-hour day. His mother, Sue, a former teacher who had homeschooled her son during the pandemic, knew some well-timed breaks would help him maintain focus so he could learn the life skills he would most need as an adult. 

So, Luther designed a home learning plan for him that combined lessons in core subjects with practical skills such as counting money, budgeting, housekeeping, and staying healthy. 

“The goal is for him to be as independent as possible,” she said.  

Luther, a former military spouse and single mom from Largo, Florida, stopped using Alexander’s Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with Unique Abilities to pay private school tuition and started using it to buy the supplies necessary for him to learn at home.  

Florida lawmakers passed the Unique Abilities scholarship program in 2014. Formerly known as the Gardiner Scholarship, it provides an education savings account that functions like a restricted-use bank account from which parents direct funds to pay for private school tuition and fees, approved homeschooling expenses, therapies, tutoring and other education-related expenses.  

Luther used some of Alexander’s funds to buy a virtual reality headset for physical education. He uses it to play Beat Saber, a rhythm game where players slash colorful cubes with virtual swords as they fly toward them to the beat of fast-paced music. Luther says the game not only provides physical activity but helps prime Alexander’s mind for learning. Small-scale research has suggested that so-called exergaming, which combines virtual reality games and physical exercise, can help younger users improve their performance at specific cognitive tasks. 

“VR has come a long way,” said Luther, who used personal funds to buy herself a headset to play Beat Saber and other exergames. “It’s a great workout, and we can do it together. It’s such a great tool. It’s going to be in a lot of schools someday.” 

 The VR activities also allow him to learn social skills. 

“He’s got to learn how to take turns and how to interact with others,” Luther said. “It gives him the space he needs. Nobody’s touching him.” 

Luther bought Alexander’s laptop and headset through MyScholarShop, an online purchasing platform for families who have an education savings account. The portal lets parents buy pre-approved instructional materials and curricula without having to pay out of pocket.  

A typical homeschool day begins with breakfast after dropping off Alexander’s younger brother, Miles, 13, off at a charter school. 

Alexander helps make the toast and jelly and puts away his dishes after he eats. The activity is not only for nourishment but also to teach Alexander the life skills needed to live as independently as possible as an adult. 

Next is handwriting practice, followed by instruction on the laptop. Then he takes a break before lunch, when he helps Luther prepare the meal and clean up afterward.  

 Alexander spends the afternoon on math followed by science, which typically involves projects such as making a lava lamp or growing a plant. 

The last part of the day includes Beat Saber or yoga and then winds down with an art project before it’s time to pick up Alexander’s brother from school. 

Alexander uses his laptop for learning games and puzzles on ABC Mouse and Starfall sites and for video games that Luther offers as rewards for staying on task and achieving goals. 

In the evenings, a therapist certified in applied behavioral analysis comes to the house to help Alexander with self-care skills such as showering. The family’s insurance covers the therapy sessions, but for other families, therapy provided by a certified behavioral analyst is an eligible scholarship expense. 

This year, Luther has seen Alexander make progress in math and counting. She uses play money to help teach him addition and subtraction and how that works in real life scenarios. He recently began receiving government disability payments, making money management an even more important skill. Sometimes they dine out so Alexander can practice personal finance skills by recording transactions on Cash App.  

The app gives him a place to keep the money he earns from doing simple household chores such as putting away his laundry and cleaning his room. 

“If he wants a hamburger or a video game, he can use the app to buy it,” Luther said. The app also keeps a history of transactions so Alexander can evaluate his spending choices and improve his decision-making skills. “I want him to know so no one can take advantage of him,” she said. “I want him to be able to figure out “Did I spend this or did someone take it from me?’ I know he’s never going to be able to be on his own completely, but he needs to be aware.” 

Luther said he also has improved his handwriting as well as his patience and focus. 

“Getting him just to do that has been a huge improvement,” she said.  

Luther said she sees a need for more programs to serve teenagers who can’t go to college or technical school but who need training in job and life skills.  

“That’s the school I always wanted to start – how to survive in the world if they don’t want to go to college. We would have fewer dropouts. That’s part of the whole school choice thing, isn’t it?”