The future of education is happening now. In Florida. And public school districts are pushing into new frontiers by making it possible for all students, including those on education choice scholarships, to access the best they have to offer on a part-time basis.
That was the message Keith Jacobs, director of provider development at Step Up For Students, delivered on Excel in Education’s “Policy Changes Lives” podcast A former public school teacher and administrator, Jacobs has spent the past year helping school districts expand learning options for students who receive funding through education savings accounts. These accounts allow parents to use funds for tuition, curriculum, therapies, and other pre-approved educational expenses. That includes services by approved district and charter schools.
“So, what makes Florida so unique is that we have done something that five, 10, even, you know, further down the line, 20 years ago, you would have never thought would have happened,” Jacobs said during a discussion with podcast host Ben DeGrow.
Jacobs explained how the process works:
“I’m a home education student and I want to be an engineer, and the high school up the street has a remarkable engineering professor. I can contract with the school district and pay out of my education savings account for that engineering course at that school.
“It’s something that was in theory for so long, but now it’s in practice here in Florida.”
It is also becoming more widespread in an environment supercharged by the passage of House Bill 1 in 2023, which made all K-12 students in Florida eligible for education choice scholarships regardless of family income. According to Jacobs, more than 50% of the state’s 67 school districts, including Miami-Dade, Orange, Hillsborough and Duval, are either already approved or have applied to be contracted providers.
That’s a welcome addition in Florida, where more than 500,000 students are using state K-12 scholarship programs and 51% of all students are using some form of choice.
Jacobs said district leaders’ questions have centered on the logistics of participating, such as how the funding process works, how to document attendance and handle grades.
Once the basics are established, Jacobs wants to help districts find ways to remove barriers to part-time students’ participation. Those could include offering courses outside of the traditional school day or setting up classes that serve only those students.
Jacobs said he expects demand for public school services to grow as Florida families look for more ways to customize their children’s education. That will lead to more opportunities for public schools to benefit and change the narrative that education is an adversarial, zero-sum game to one where everyone wins.
“So, basically, the money is following the child and not funding a specific system. So, when you shift that narrative from ‘you're losing public school kids’ to ‘families are empowered to use their money for public school services,’ it really shifts that narrative on what's happening here, specifically in Florida.”
Jacobs expects other states to emulate Florida as their own programs and the newly passed federal tax credit program give families more money to spend on customized learning. He foresees greater freedom for teachers to become entrepreneurs and districts to become even more innovative.
“There is a nationwide appetite for education choice and families right now…We have over 18 states who have adopted some form of education savings accounts in their state. So, the message to states outside of Florida is to listen to what the demands of families are.”
When I think about the state of public education in Florida, I recall a song from “The Wiz,” the 1978 film reimagining of “The Wizard of Oz,” where Diana Ross sang, “Can’t you feel a brand new day?”
It’s a brand new day in our state’s educational history. Parents are in the driver’s seat deciding where and how their children are educated, and because the money follows the student, every school and educational institution must compete for the opportunity to serve them.
Public schools are rising to meet that challenge.
For the past year, helping them has been my full-time job.
Today, 27 of Florida’s 67 school districts have contracted with Step Up For Students to provide classes and services to scholarship students, and another 10 have applied to do so.
That’s up from a single school district and one lone charter school this time a year ago.
This represents a seismic shift in public education.
For decades, a student’s ZIP code determined which district school he or she attended, limiting options for most families. For decades, Florida slowly chipped away at those boundaries, giving families options beyond their assigned schools.
Then, in 2023, House Bill 1 supercharged the transformation. That legislation made every K-12 student in Florida eligible for a scholarship. It gave parents more flexibility in how they can use their child’s scholarship. It also created the Personalized Education Program (PEP), designed specifically for students not enrolled in school full time.
This year, more than 80,000 PEP students are joining approximately 39,000 Unique Abilities students who are registered homeschoolers. That means nearly 120,000 scholarship students whose families are fully mixing and matching their education.
Families are sending the clear message that they want choices, flexibility, and an education that reflects the unique needs and interests of their children.
Districts have heard that message.
Parents may not want a full-time program at their neighborhood school, but they still want access to the districts’ diverse menu of resources, including AP classes, robotics labs, career education courses, and state assessments. Families can pay for those services directly with their scholarship funds, giving districts a new revenue stream while ensuring students get exactly what they need.
In my conversations with district leaders across the state, they see demand for more flexible options in their communities, and they’re figuring out how to meet it.
For instance, take a family whose child is enthusiastic about robotics. In the past, their choices would have been all-or-nothing. If they chose to use a scholarship, they would gain the ability to customize their child’s education but lose access to the popular robotics course at their local public school. Now, that family can enroll their child in a district robotics course, pay for it with their scholarship, and give their child firsthand technology experience to round out the tutoring, curriculum, online courses and other educational services the family uses their scholarship to access.
Families can log in to their account in Step Up’s EMA system, find providers under marketplace and select their local school district offerings under “contracted public school services.” School districts will get a notification when a scholarship student signs up for one of their classes. From large, urban districts like Miami-Dade to small, rural ones like Lafayette, superintendents are excited to see scholarship students walk through their doors to engage in the “cool stuff” public schools can offer. Whether it’s dual enrollment, performing arts, or career and technical education, districts are learning that when they open their arms to families with choice, those families respond with enthusiasm.
Parents are no longer passive consumers of whatever system they happen to live in. They are empowered, informed, and determined to customize their child’s learning journey.
This is the promise of a brand new day in Florida education. For too long, choice has been framed as a zero-sum game where if a student left the public system, or never even attended in the first place, the district lost. That us-versus-them mentality is quickly going the way of the Wicked Witch of the West. What we are witnessing now is something far more hopeful: a recognition that districts and families can be partners, not adversaries, in building customized learning pathways.
The future of education in Florida is not about one system defeating another. It is about ensuring families have access to as many options as needed, regardless of who delivers them.
As Diana Ross once sang, “Hello world! It’s like a different way of living now.” It has my heart singing so joyfully.
For the first time in Florida’s history, more than half of all K-12 students are enrolled in an educational option of choice. During the 2023–24 school year, 1,794,697 students, out of the state’s approximately 3.5 million K-12 population, attended schools outside their zoned neighborhood assignment.
Since the 2008–09 school year, Step Up For Students, in collaboration with the Florida Department of Education, has tracked enrollment across a variety of choice programs. While methods and program structures have evolved, 2023–24 marks a milestone: more than 50% of Florida’s students are now learning in environments selected by their families.
The Changing Landscapes report draws from Florida Department of Education data and removes, where possible, duplicate counts to provide a clearer picture of school choice participation. For example, it adjusts for home education students supported by the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) and eliminates double-counted students in career and professional programs. It also excludes prekindergarten students in FES-UA and programs like Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK), as the report focuses solely on K–12 education.
While many families still choose their neighborhood public schools, Florida’s education system now offers a broad range of options to meet diverse student needs. Public school choice remains dominant, occupying four of the top five spots in overall enrollment. Charter schools are the most popular option, followed by district open enrollment programs, career and professional academies, and Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) programs for upperclassmen.
On the private side, the 2023–24 school year marked a historic shift: For the first time, a single scholarship program now serves more students than all private school families who pay tuition out of pocket.
In total, over 116,000 additional students enrolled in choice programs compared to the prior year. The Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO) and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) saw the greatest growth, along with AICE and FES-UA. Altogether, scholarships for private and home education increased by approximately 142,000 students, while private-pay and non-scholarship home education enrollment declined, likely due to the expanded availability of financial aid.
Among public-school options, magnet and district choice programs saw slight declines, with 28,000 and 8,447 fewer students, respectively. Still, public-school choice remains strong: 1.1 million of Florida’s 2.9 million public school students (40%) are enrolled in a choice-based public option.
Altogether, nearly 1.8 million students attend a school chosen by their parents or guardians. This shift reflects a fundamental transformation in Florida’s educational landscape—one where families are increasingly empowered to find the best fit for their children.
But with so many students opting for alternatives to their zoned public schools, it raises an interesting question: What about those who stay? If families are surrounded by options and still choose their assigned public school, isn’t that a choice, too? In that light, Florida may already have a 100% choice system, because staying is just as much a decision as leaving.
Rather than a battle between public and private education, Florida is showing how both sectors can coexist and thrive, working together to provide high quality learning opportunities for all students. The future of education isn’t one-size-fits-all; it’s about ensuring every family has access to an option that fits their child’s unique needs. In Florida, that future is already here.
