Editor’s note: This opinion piece from Tim Benson, a policy analyst in the government relations department at The Heartland Institute, appeared Friday on the institute’s website. It describes Senate Bill 48, which cleared its last committee in March. A companion bill in the House, House Bill 7045, won approval from the House Appropriations Committee last week and is headed for a floor vote.

An education bill making its way through the Florida Senate would, among other things, streamline the state’s five education choice programs by combining them into two education savings account programs.

The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program and Hope Scholarship Program for bullied students would be merged into the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, which would then transition to an education savings account program. While the Tax Credit Scholarship and the Hope Scholarship were previously funded via tax credits through private donors, the new combined Family Empowerment Program were entirely be funded out of state coffers.

Eligibility for participation in the program would be increased to families with household incomes up to 300% above the federal poverty level.

Meanwhile, the Gardiner Scholarship Program and the John M. McKay Scholarship Program for students with disabilities would be merged into the McKay-Gardiner Scholarship Program.

Turning the non-education savings account programs into education savings accounts will also make available more education options that parents can use to customize and tailor to meet the unique needs of each individual child.  

Florida’s choice programs have been a great success for participating students. A 2019 study from the Urban Institute, expanding on previous research, found Tax Credit Scholarship students participating in the program for at least four years are 43% more likely to enroll in a four-year college and 20% more likely to graduate than their public school peers.

A March 2021 study from the School Choice Demonstration Project at the University of Arkansas also showed that low-income students and students with disabilities had “had demonstrated dramatic [academic] gains compared to their similarly-disadvantaged peers nationally” due to the state’s education choice programs.

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A bill that would simplify Florida’s education choice programs by merging five scholarships into two and add a flexible spending option advanced one more step toward passage today after clearing the Florida Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education.

By a vote of 6 to 3 along party lines, members approved SB48, which would transfer students receiving the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program (FTC) to the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES), which was signed into law in 2019, and sunset the 20-year-old FTC.

“I am glad to see the bill will give myself, a single mother of four, and other families the opportunity to have flexibility in utilizing the scholarship,” said Natalie Wiley of Jacksonville, whose children are on FTC and FES scholarships. “This will improve programs that have made a huge impact in my family.”

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah, was approved Feb. 3 by the Senate Education Committee.  (For more information about what the bill includes, go here.) A companion bill is expected in the House.

“This bill is not an expansion but really a streamlining,” Diaz said during the subcommittee meeting. He said the pandemic amplified the need for increased innovation and flexibility, with many parents working with their kids at kitchen tables. “I still believe the parent is the best decisionmaker for the child.”

Under the bill, donors would still be allowed to contribute to the tax-credit program through a newly created state trust fund. However, donations would go to serve K-12 education generally in the state, rather than pay for scholarships. Both the FTC and the FES are income based and serve students whose families meet financial eligibility rules.

The bill does not materially change the eligibility criteria for any of the scholarship programs, and actually reduces the currently allowable statutory growth in some of the programs.

The bill also would merge the McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities and the Gardiner Scholarship Program, creating a new program for students with unique abilities called the McKay-Gardiner Scholarship Program.

That program would allow families in all state scholarship programs to have flexible spending accounts, also known as education savings accounts, or ESAs. Currently, only students enrolled in the Gardiner program have such flexibility.

The accounts allow families to spend their money on pre-approved services and equipment in addition to private school tuition. Approved expenditures include electronic devices, curriculum, part-time tutoring programs, educational supplies, equipment, and therapies that insurance programs do not cover. The bill would expand eligible services for McKay-Gardiner students to include music, art, and theater programs, as well as summer education programs.

The scholarship programs are also available to homeschool students and those enrolled in eligible private schools.

In addition, victims of bullying at district schools who transfer to private schools as part of the Hope Scholarship Program would also be served by the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program and receive the same spending flexibility.

Several families spoke in support of the bill. Natalie Wallace of Tampa told senators how programs allowed her son, daughter and nephew to attend Hillel School of Tampa after they were not academically challenged enough, and her youngest child was bullied.

“Hillel gives my kids smaller classes, more learning support, a safe environment, and it reinforces our family’s beliefs and values,” she said. “The scholarship has lessened the financial burden on my family and given us the same opportunities at a good education as those who are more privileged. And now, thanks to Sen. Diaz, this bill can make it even better by giving scholarship families more spending flexibility to further meet their children’s needs.”

In addition to scholarship families, the bill received support from the Libre Initiative – Florida and Americans For Prosperity, which have announced a joint campaign  to promote the bill.

The bill’s next stop is the Senate Appropriations Committee.

On this episode, redefinED managing editor Donna Winchester asks Tuthill about a landmark education choice bill filed Thursday in the Florida Senate. Sponsored by Sen. Manny Diaz Jr. (R-Hialeah), SB 48 would merge Florida’s five choice scholarship programs into two and add flexible spending options in the form of education savings accounts to better meet the individual needs of scholarship families.

 The bill would transfer students currently receiving the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship to the Family Empowerment Scholarship, which was signed into law in 2019, and merge the McKay Scholarship Program for students with disabilities and the Gardiner Scholarship Program for students with unique abilities, creating a new program called the McKay-Gardiner Scholarship Program.

Tuthill discusses the bill’s potential to better align public education to the modern world of school choice, aiding not only students and families but educators and education providers as well.

"I think you're going to see a lot of very dynamic educators who would normally be pushed out of the profession because they're so frustrated (now) staying ... and creating lots of innovation. For the next 15 to 20 years, I think you will see an amazing amount of innovation driven by educators who finally have the freedom to be more creative, and families having the resources to access those kinds of choices. I think it's going to be a renaissance for teachers and families."

EPISODE DETAILS:

·       An explanation of SB 48 and how it would enhance Florida’s choice landscape

·       The genesis of Step Up For Students’ motto of “helping public education fulfill the promise of equal opportunity”

·       How education choice empowers educators and promotes entrepreneurship

·       Tuthill’s response to those who doubt a parent’s ability to make good educational decisions for their children

·       What social science has to say about learning and internal motivation and how that message can guide education choice advocates and thought leaders