Editor's note: On May 30, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed legislation establishing the first education choice program in the state's history. The passage met with immediate resistance from opponents, who are working to repeal the program by gathering enough signatures to put the measure on the 2024 ballot. They need to get about 61,000 valid signatures from registered voters within 90 days to do so. 

A committee of community leaders and elected officials in Nebraska known as Keep Kids First has launched a decline to sign campaign in response to the teachers union’s attempt to repeal recently passed LB753 – the Opportunity Scholarships Act.

Nebraska’s first school choice program, LB753, which was supported by Gov. Jim Pillen and a supermajority of state senators, will provide scholarship opportunities for students from lower-income and military families, students who have special needs, students who have been bullied, students who are in the foster care system, and students who have been denied public school option enrollment.

For more than a decade, advocates and families have been fighting to pass a school choice program in Nebraska. Those efforts have consistently been met with resistance from special interest groups like the NSEA – the state’s teachers union.

Keep Kids First says it will work to educate Nebraska voters about the Opportunity Scholarships Act, correct misinformation about the program from the teachers union and their well-funded political allies, and urge Nebraskans to decline to sign the petition. Initial members of Keep Kids First include Senators Lou Ann Linehan, Justin Wayne, Dave Murman, Rob Clements, Tom Brewer and Joni Albrecht, as well as community leaders Clarice Jackson, Omaha; Dr. Britt Thedinger, Omaha; Kim Schroll, North Platte; and John M. Dinkel, Norfolk.

On May 30, the 33 state senators who voted for the bill released a statement: “We are deeply disappointed that some in the Nebraska public education establishment are pursuing a multi-million dollar ballot initiative denying opportunities to vulnerable and at-risk children.... We stand united with families and students and are committed to defending the educational opportunities created by the historic passage of the Opportunity Scholarships Act.”

 

Since it closed in 2009, a victim of the Great Recession that wrecked family finances across the United States, the campus on the grounds of St. Malachy Catholic Church in Tamarac, Florida, has housed secular charter schools.

However, despite the focus those learning institutions placed solely on academics, one sacred element remained: the statue of the Virgin Mary. She stands in a courtyard atop a stone pedestal, in front of three children who kneel in reverence. The statue is a replica of Our Lady of Fatima, which, according to the Catholic church, the Virgin Mary appeared six times to three Portuguese shepherd children starting in 1917 and shared visions and messages. The church declared the visions of Fatima as “worthy of belief” in 1930.

As St. Malachy Catholic Church prepares to reopen its parish school after a 14-year hiatus, the statue is a powerful symbol of what a community’s faith and teamwork can accomplish.

“They never removed the statue of Our Lady,” said Zoraida Perez, the school’s registrar and first employee hired for the reopening. She said the fact that the statue remained feels like a miracle to her. “I did work in another parish where a charter school took over, and the first thing they did was remove all the images.”

Perez, who was not working for St. Malachy in 2008 but who lived in the area, recalled the strong emotions people felt when the economy forced the school, along with seven other area Catholic schools, to close due to low enrollment.

“Many of those families were so sad, and they had to decide between providing a home and food for their children or a private, parochial education,” said Perez, whose three children attended Catholic schools. Many of them had to make the decision to school and go to public school.”

Those who were able to continue in Catholic schools were offered seats at other area schools.

The transition to new schools was tough for some families, who missed the sense of community that a smaller school like St. Malachy, which first opened in 1984, provided. The school and the church are named for St. Malachy, an Irish Saint who lived during the 1100s.

The church leased the campus to a charter school, which closed in 2018. Another followed but closed in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

When leaders announced in March that the parish would reopen the school, a woman whose two children had to transfer to another Catholic school when St. Malachy closed showed up immediately with donations of backpacks and school supplies.

“She said her kids felt lonely because they were the new people at the school,” Perez said. “She said what they had at Saint Malachy was a family.”

Parish and school leaders said they based the decision to reopen on a population boom that included many young families moving to the area. Tamarac boasted a population of nearly 72,000 in 2020, according to the latest U.S. Census figures. That’s an increase of more than 10,000 from 2010, when the census showed a population of 60,427.

“The decision to reopen St. Malachy followed a feasibility study in which we looked at local demographic trends, educational options and other factors. Through this study, we determined that a viable Catholic school could reopen at St. Malachy without operating to the detriment of nearby Catholic schools,” said Jim Rigg, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Miami.

Rigg, who as superintendent oversees 63 Catholic schools, doesn’t need statistics to show him what he has observed.

“People are moving here from all over the world, from the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean,” Rigg said. “We’re in growth mode.”

Figures from the 20222-23 school year confirm Rigg’s statement.

Total enrollment came in at 33,577, the highest in more than five years.

In Key West, the Basilica School of St. Mary Star of the Sea is expanding to offer high school in August. It will be the first time since 1986, when Mary Immaculate High School closed, that the county has had a Catholic high school. Also, Cristo Rey Miami High School, an independent Catholic school, opened in 2022.

Across the Sunshine State, Catholic school enrollment rose 6.3 percent in 2021-22, the biggest jump of any of the 10 states with the biggest Catholic enrollments and outpacing the 3.8 percent hike nationally, according to state-by-state figures from the National Catholic Educational Association.

Leaders attribute Florida’s trend-defying figures over the past several years to its robust education choice laws, which offer families access to scholarships to attend private schools.

“Catholic schools in states that have school-choice programs…had greater enrollment stability over the past two years than Catholic schools in states with no private-school choice,” according to a study by the Manhattan Institute. “That is, Catholic schools in states with multiple choice programs (two or more) lost far fewer students in the first year of the pandemic (–4.9%) than states with no private-school-choice programs (–7.6%), but both the robust choice and the nonchoice states rebounded in 2021–22 by the same percentage (+4%).

The six states with education savings accounts, which give families the ability to use funds to customize their students’ education, also saw enrollment increases that were twice as large as states that had no ESAs. This year, the Florida Legislature expanded education choice by granting automatic eligibility to all students regardless of income.

Even so, Archdiocese of Miami leaders are starting small at St. Malachy, with seats only for 4-year-old kindergarten and voluntary pre-kindergarten students as well as kindergarten. They expect to have about 45 students the first year. The next year, they plan to begin adding other grades, eventually capping out at eighth grade. (To learn about registration and careers, go here.)

 

Perez said the community response has been overwhelming since word got out about the reopening plans. The Knights of Columbus St. Malachy Council 13355 have been doing handywork to help get the school ready to open in August. Nearby St. Bonaventure School reached out with guidance and local companies have donated and installed technology as well as offered free uniforms in the school’s blue and gold colors for incoming students.

In the areas of the school that will be occupied this fall, community members have installed new flooring, provided new furniture, moved the administrative offices to the front of the building and built a new canopy for the playground to provide shade. A parliament of owls found living in one part of the building provided inspiration for the school mascot: the owl.

“It takes a village to raise a child,” Perez said, quoting the African proverb. “This is where you find it.”

 

Editor’s note: This commentary from Keri D. Ingraham, a fellow at Discovery Institute, director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a visiting fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, appeared earlier today on washingtonexaminer.com.

On the heels of a historic year of school choice advancement, including legislation that enacted universal or near-universal school choice programs in seven states, Illinois is poised to go in the opposite direction, delivering a blow to low-income families.

Specifically, the Democratic-controlled legislature in Illinois is positioned to let the Invest in Kids $100 million tax-credit scholarship program, enacted in 2017, sunset at the end of this calendar year. The action will nix a school choice program currently providing educational options to 9,000 low-income students.

As a tax-credit scholarship, the school choice program is not directly funded with taxpayer dollars but is privately funded by people and businesses who contribute through a qualified scholarship-granting organization.

Regardless, state lawmakers intentionally opted not to extend the program during the spring legislative session by failing to include it in the state’s budget implementation bill. Several other bills introduced during the session that would have extended the program also failed.

According to Myles Mendoza, founder and former President of Empower Illinois, the organization that led the inception of the tax credit scholarship policy, “despite daily pleas throughout the legislative session to extend the school choice program from parents, grandparents, foster parents, and guardians of children receiving the tax credit scholarship, Democratic House Speaker Chris Welch didn’t seem to even notice.”

The Democrat lawmakers’ loyalties lay with the public school teachers unions, who are stark opponents of school choice because having more children enrolled in public schools increases teacher staffing levels, equating to more members’ dues into union coffers, and who spend millions of dollars fueling Democratic political campaigns every year.

It’s a vicious funding cycle, with Democrat politicians and teachers union leaders pledging unwavering allegiance to each other in this quid pro quo relationship. Clearly, the importance of providing low-income students an opportunity to receive a better education pales in comparison.

But there was another reason the teachers unions pressured Illinois’ Democratic lawmakers to ensure the school choice program ends: The program shed a glaring light on the magnitude of parents seeking to free their children from the failing union-controlled Illinois public schools.

According to test data released by the Illinois State Board of Education, a startling 70% of Illinois public school students fail to read at grade level, and 75% fail to meet proficiency in math.

To continue reading, click here.

A new study from a professor of economics in the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky finds positive correlation between states’ K-12 student achievement and their education choice policies.

According to the paper, “Enhancing economic freedom via school choice and competition: Have state laws been enabling enough to generate broad-based effects?” released in early May, states with school choice programs saw large improvements in statewide test scores.

The report follows a study released earlier this year from Patrick J. Wolf, Jay P. Greene, James D. Paul and Matthew Ladner that shows similar results.

“This paper’s basic findings indicate strikingly large fourth grade reading and math test score gains for states that have adopted voucher programs and/or Education Savings Accounts,” wrote the researcher, John Garen.

The study shows that charter schools produced positive test score improvements, though only if the state’s enabling charter school law was not deemed “restrictive.”

Additionally, Garen found that increases in per-pupil spending correlated with improved test scores, but this impact was significantly smaller than offering a voucher or education savings account.

The paper compared National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores from 1992 to 2019 and to the availability of school choice programs and the restrictions on student eligibility, as well as scholarship funding. However, the research did not include home education or district open enrollment policies in the results.

The study also considers whether school choice laws permit or restrict enrollment and new school entry, total public school per-pupil spending, and adjusts for the student’s race, income and learning disability status.

According to Garen, for every $1,000 increase in per-pupil spending, there was a corresponding increase of 0.25 points in reading and 0.14 in math.

States with charter schools, however, saw decreases in both math and reading scores, but this may be impacted by restrictive charter school laws. States with less restrictive charter school laws, which would allow more students and schools, saw an increase of 0.65 points on the NAEP, the equivalent of increasing per-pupil spending by $2,500.

A statewide voucher program improved reading by 2.25 points, and the education savings account improved reading scores by 3.46 points, an effect that is 13 times stronger than simply increasing per-pupil spending.

Math scores also improved significantly in states with voucher and ESA programs. According to the researcher, the effect of an ESA program on statewide math scores was 27 times stronger than increasing per-pupil spending by $1,000.

States with ESA programs observed in the study include Arizona, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida.

Here are some additional findings:

• Spending more money on schools was negatively correlated in math and reading for Black students, but positive for low-income students in general.
• States with less-restrictive charter school laws had a very strong positive impact on math and reading for both Black and low-income students.
• Vouchers and education savings accounts were also correlated with large math and reading score increases for both Black and low-income students.

According to Garen, vouchers and education savings accounts were better funded than tax credit scholarships but funded less than traditional public schools.

“Such programs,” the research concludes, “are associated with large improvements in Grade 4 reading and math NAEP test scores and are much bigger than the effect of school funding. Moreover, they are associated with lower school costs, implying a double dividend of better outcomes at lower cost.”

The report was published May 1.

PINELLAS PARK – David Facey remembers sitting in his Language Arts class last year hoping for salvation. Hoping someone would pull the fire alarm. Drastic, yes, but anything to bring class to an end.

The other students were nearly finished with their writing assignment. David had written only three words.

His teacher noticed. She wasn’t happy.

“David, what’s wrong with you?” she asked. “You need to concentrate.”

David wanted to scream.

It’s not a lack of focus. It’s dysgraphia, a neurological disorder that affects his ability to write. David can’t write within the lines. He can’t properly space letters. It took him nearly the entire class to write those three words. His hand cramped. He had a headache. He could no longer remember what he was writing about.

The topic was the ocean. David can talk for hours about the ocean. He just can’t write about it. That led to a confrontation with the teacher, a trip to the principal’s office, and a phone call to David’s mom.

David’s biological mother used drugs throughout the pregnancy, said Betty Facey, who along with her husband, Arlen, adopted David when he was 3. David was born addicted to those drugs. As a result, he has dysgraphia and dyscalculia, another neurological disorders where he struggles with numbers and math. He has atypical cerebral palsy, which affects his core strength and fine motor skills. He struggles with anger management.

“His are more hidden disabilities,” Betty said.

David, 14, didn’t have a problem in school until the Faceys moved from Michigan to Pinellas Park in 2021. Betty learned the teachers at his assigned school were not following his individual education plan. He couldn’t understand assignments. He couldn’t complete them. He couldn’t keep up with his classmates.

And when confronted by his teachers, he couldn’t control his anger.

“I would act all crazy and stuff,” David said.

With the help of an education choice scholarship, Betty enrolled David at Learning Independence For Tomorrow (LiFT) Academy in Seminole. LiFT is a private K-12 school that serves neurodiverse students.

“I would say if Florida didn’t have this (education choice) option, he would be stuck in (his assigned school) school,” Betty said. “He’d have to put up with the stuff they were dishing out. … He would hate school. He would probably not have a chance to graduate.

“To me, to be able to get him in a place like LiFT, which really is the perfect place for him, is sort of like a miracle.”

To continue reading, click here.

Editor's note: This commentary from Valeria Gurr, a Senior Fellow for the American Federation for Children and a reimaginED guest blogger, appeared Saturday on Nebraska's townhall.com. 

Just a decade ago, there were only a couple dozen states in the U.S. with school choice programs. This week, Nebraska has made history as the 50th state in the nation to pass a school choice bill — a monumental win for families in the Cornhusker State.

This passage is not only a major victory for the school choice movement in Nebraska; it is also a testament to the advancement of educational freedom and opportunities nationwide for all children, regardless of color, race, or economic status.

Nebraska’s LB753, the Opportunity Scholarship Act, which just passed with a supermajority from the Unicameral Legislature, establishes a tax-credit scholarship that will help more than ten thousand students attend a non-public school of their choice.

Scholarships will average around $9,000 per student, depending on the needs of the family and tuition costs.

The Opportunity Scholarships Act will give first priority to students living in poverty, students with exceptional needs, those who experienced bullying, are in the foster system or are in military families, and children denied enrollment into another public school.

With the goal of empowering families, passing school choice in Nebraska was the right thing to do. As a Hispanic education advocate, I am fighting for my community to overcome inequality in education. A high-quality education is one of the only paths to success for children living in poverty.

A quality K-12 education is a path to economic progress and opportunity, preparing students for college and successful careers, and school choice will always be part of the solution since the traditional system of education will never fit all the individual needs of students and families.

To continue reading, click here.

Editor’s note: This commentary from Jason Bedrick, a research fellow with The Heritage Foundation's Center for Education Policy, appeared Tuesday on dailysignal.com.

The momentum for school choice is continuing to build nationwide.

Eight states have enacted new education choice policies or have expanded existing ones so far this year, including Indiana, Montana, and South Carolina earlier this month alone.

Of the eight, four states—Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, and Utah—enacted school choice policies that will be available to all K-12 students, joining Arizona and West Virginia in making every child eligible for education savings accounts or ESA-like policies that allow families to choose the learning environments that align with their values and work best for their children.

Indiana came close by expanding eligibility for its voucher and tax-credit scholarship policies to about 97% of K-12 students statewide. South Carolina’s new ESA is limited to low- and middle-income families, while Montana’s new ESA will expand education options for students with special needs.

More states have adopted robust education choice policies this year than ever before—and several state legislatures are still in session. This week, three state legislatures are making progress toward adopting new education choice policies or significantly expanding existing ones.

New Hampshire

This week, the New Hampshire state Senate will vote on a bill to raise the income-eligibility threshold for the state’s Education Freedom Accounts from 300% of the federal poverty line to 350% (about $97,000 for a families of four).

According to EdChoice, nearly 45% of Granite State families would be eligible. The bill has already passed the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the Senate Education Committee.

More than 3,000 students are currently enrolled in the program, which is nearly 2% of the approximately 165,000 K-12 students statewide.

“Half of the children enrolled are living below the poverty level,” said New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut. “These families are seeking a nontraditional instructional model for their children who may not have found educational success.”

According to the New Hampshire Department of Education, 1,504 of the 3,025 ESA students are eligible for the federally subsidized free and reduced-price lunch program, and 187 are students with special needs. Of the 1,453 students who enrolled in the ESA program for the first time during this academic year, about 400 switched from a public school.

To continue reading, click here.

Editor’s note: This commentary from Ben DeGrow, policy director of education choice at ExcelinEd, appeared Thursday on the ExcelinEd website.

Last month, the nation took notice as Florida fully opened the doors of education freedom to K-12 students in the Sunshine State by making all families eligible for an education scholarship account.

On July 1, Florida is set to become the third state in the nation to launch an ESA program with universal eligibility.

Budget negotiations, now underway, will determine the number of scholarships available in the upcoming school year. In recognizing program dollars would be limited, policymakers also ensured that the new law guarantees students from households at the lower end of the spectrum are near the front of the line.

An additional feature of the Sunshine State’s enhanced ESA program will soon benefit many families that receive a scholarship: choice navigation. Florida parents will have the option to use some of their ESA funds for a credentialed consultant, known as a choice navigator, who can help them choose the most effective curricula, academic programming or support services for their child.

Similarly, the state’s education department has been charged with developing an online portal that will be able to recommend specific schools and other resources based on a student’s needs and interests.

The wealth of options unlocked by ESAs can be a huge benefit. Yet a quick look at other states suggests this also can be overwhelming. Arizona’s universal ESA program has approved nearly 3,000 different service providers that parents can select from on the state’s digital direct pay platform. More than 1,000 options are for tutors alone.

In New Hampshire, the state’s Education Freedom Accounts—after less than two years in operation—enable participating families to use their funds at any of more than 650 schools, tutors, therapists, educational programs and retail vendors.

In some states, nonprofit organizations fill the valuable role of informing parents about their options in various school choice programs. Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina operates a website that lets users search and compare different kinds of schools. In Texas, Families Empowered is assisting parents of special-needs students who receive a $1,500 microgrant.

There’s also a private initiative created by the founders of the online course platform Outschool. The company’s nonprofit arm is focused on helping low-income and minority families navigate the nontraditional path of customized learning through an innovative approach called Outbridge.

In a partnership with the Engaged Detroit homeschool co-op, Outbridge provides a menu of community-based and virtual learning options for parents to purchase with pre-authorized debit cards. Early results show parents have diverse spending habits, but they tend to favor known local resources over remotely accessed providers.

With on-the-ground partner AmplifyGR, Outbridge has launched a parallel project in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for parents of district and charter school students to identify and purchase supplemental services.

In both of these communities, trained coaches also help to give further guidance to parents who struggle with their decisions. This has proven especially helpful to those long accustomed to having limited resources for their children. Outbridge has seen more parents make spending decisions immediately after holding in-person community events designed to provide more hands-on information.

Florida’s program administrators and prospective navigators may learn some helpful lessons from these pilot efforts to benefit families. Meanwhile, leaders in other states with expansive choice could embrace this kind of assistance as a priority. That’s one way to help ensure the promise of universal ESAs doesn’t leave anyone behind.

The Senate version of a bill that would expand eligibility for flexible spending accounts to all K-12 students cleared its first hurdle today on the way to becoming the largest expansion of education choice in Florida’s history.

Members of the Senate Committee on Education for Pre-K through 12 voted 9-3 along party lines, with Republicans in support, to move SB 202 forward to its next stop, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Education.

“If we pass this, this will the boldest education legislation Florida has ever undertaken,” state Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville said during the debate part of the packed meeting, which had to be extended by 15 minutes to accommodate all the members of public who signed up to speak on the bill.

Karen Prewitt, a Jacksonville mom whose son, Caleb, has Down syndrome, was among those speaking in support of the bill.

She said the Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with Unique Abilities has given her family the flexibility to customize Caleb’s education. In addition to his tuition, she is able to use funds for equine therapy and life-skills training. Caleb, who is heavily involved in Special Olympics and competes in youth triathlons across the state, also has his own cooking show on Facebook.

“We are grateful to have that kind of flexibility in spending our education dollars to customize Caleb’s education to meet his needs, and I know many other families in Florida would benefit from having that freedom,” Prewitt said.

Angela Rivera, whose son, James, has autism, said he has benefited greatly from his Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities. The program has allowed the family access to intervention therapies that they otherwise could not afford.

“Every family should be able to choose where their child is educated, based on their individual needs and abilities,” Rivera said. “And every family should have the spending flexibility of an ESA that gives them more options and opportunities. Just as this scholarship has changed the future for my son, expanding these scholarships can change the future of Florida’s children.”

Like its House companion, HB 1, SB 202 allows for parental involvement and customized K-12 education in Florida through the expansion of education savings account eligibility to all students. (The House Pre-K through 12 Appropriations Subcommittee is set to consider HB 1 at 9 a.m. Thursday. The Florida Channel will livestream the meeting.)

However, in addition to expanding scholarship eligibility and adding flexibility, the Senate version incorporates recommendations from the Florida Association of District School Superintendents and calls for reducing “onerous and excessive regulations” on public schools.

“This is not just a private school bill,” said Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, the committee chairman and sponsor of SB 202. “This is for all schools. We’re not pulling dollars away from public schools. There are parents that are looking for another choice, but by and large, the majority will choose the public school option. This is to promote competition throughout all of our education opportunities and at the same time decrease some of the other regulations that are put on our public schools.”

Former state Sen. Bill Montford, a Tallahassee Democrat who now serves as chief executive officer for the statewide superintendents’ organization, showed up to thank lawmakers for seeking to relax some of the restrictions on public schools. He said the superintendents his organization represents welcome competition, as long as it’s fair.

“This bill levels the playing field,” he said.

Education Savings Account for Every K-12 Student Florida currently offers scholarship programs for eligible students (typically students from lower income families) to attend private schools that a parent determines will better serve their needs. These programs include the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) and the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) for students attending private school.

Scholarships are funded at an amount commensurate with the per-student amount appropriated for students attending a public school. Florida also offers a Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with unique abilities, which provides educational savings accounts that allow parents to direct funding for their child either to a private school, or other educational services and materials.

Scholarships for students with unique abilities are funded at a higher per-student amount, determined in part by the type of developmental disability and the cost of services the child may need.

Eligibility for all school choice programs is currently limited by state law in the form of an income or enrollment cap. SB 202 expands eligibility for Florida’s school choice scholarships to all students who are residents of Florida and eligible to enroll in kindergarten through grade 12 in a public school. Under the bill, parents will receive an education savings account to take dollars the State of Florida has appropriated for their child in the public education system and choose among a variety of options to customize their child’s education.

The bill makes several immediate revisions to Florida’s Education Code, identified by the Florida Association of District School Superintendents. For example, the bill reduces hurdles to a 5-year temporary teacher certification for anyone with a bachelor’s degree and for those with two years of effective or highly effective service.

The bill provides flexibility to school districts in setting salary schedules. The bill repeals the requirement that a student have one online credit in order to graduate from high school, which is not currently required in private schools. The bill also offers districts flexibility in facility costs for new construction, and offers student transportation flexibility to improve efficiency, while maintaining student safety. (Current law limits districts to using school buses for transportation.)

During Tuesday’s meeting, Simon explained that the new law would grant school districts flexibility to use large vans in addition to school buses to transport students to and from school.

The bill also includes a provision that would require the state Board of Education to review the entire chapter of Florida education statutes and recommend to the governor and Legislature revisions “to reduce regulations on public schools.”

The bill does not specify what regulations would change but instructs the state board to consider input from superintendents, teachers, administrators, school boards public and private post-secondary schools, home educators and others to be delivered in a report by Nov. 1.

Editor’s note: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, chairman and founder of the Foundation for Florida’s Future, issued the following statement in response to the filing of HB 1. The bill would significantly expand eligibility for education choice options to all K-12 students in Florida.

“The right to a publicly funded education is a promise our state makes to every student and yesterday, Speaker Paul Renner and members of the legislature took bold steps to ensure each and every Florida student can access the education of their choice.

“Florida stands on the monumental verge of restoring the original intent of publicly funding education – by funding individual students – so each child can reach their God-given potential. HB1 is a forward thinking and important move toward ensuring Florida remains the nation’s leader in student-centered solutions. I applaud Speaker Renner and the Florida House for their vision and leadership in creating this unmatched opportunity for Florida students and families.”

House Bill 1, released by Speaker Paul Renner and sponsored by Rep. Kaylee Tuck, will significantly expand school choice options for all Florida K-12 students.

• Creates universal eligibility for the Florida Family Empowerment Scholarship program
• Expands eligibility for homeschool students who wish to participate in the program
• Removes scholarship caps for low-income based programs
• Eliminates the waitlist for students with unique abilities
• Transforms the Family Empowerment Scholarship and Florida Tax Credit Scholarship programs into education savings account program, allowing funds to be used to pay for tuition and a variety of other educational material and expenses
• Improves the definition of part-time enrollment, enabling students who enroll in a traditional public school part time to receive their proportionate share of public school funding

You can read the full test of the bill here.