TAMPA, Fla. — Earlier this year, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a billthat expanded school choice options for all students in the state, and some changes are catching heat on how certain funds could be spent.
House Bill 1 expanded eligibility for all K-12 students, regardless of household income, and converted the scholarship into education savings accounts, or ESAs. It also created a new program called the Personalized Education Program, or PEP, which provides funds to families who wish to homeschool using a state-funded ESA.
Step Up for Students shared purchasing guides, which lay out eligible expenses families can spend their ESA funds on. Eligible instructional materials include home playsets for PE, TVs for at-home classroom furnishings, and theme park tickets for field trips.
When it comes to field trips, the guide makes clear those items are eligible for student admission only and come with other conditions.
The guide has come under fire from some critics.
Damaris Allen, the Executive Director of Families for Strong Public Schools, said she’d like to see more accountability.
"The real concern is that this is taking taxpayer dollars and using it to go on field trips, and I don't know that I would ever feel comfortable with even our traditional public schools spending up to $500 of our student’s money on one student to go to a theme park,” said Damaris.
ABC Action News also heard from Jeanne Allen, the Founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform, an organization dedicated to helping parents, students, and policymakers get the education they believe students deserve.
"We went to lots of places that was paid for, our bands went to places, so the idea that people are getting hot and bothered about a parent having access to the cost of a theme park, of which there are hundreds in the state of Florida, for all different reasons, is a little misplaced because the real question should be, does this track to the education you're delivering for your children?" said Jeanne.
View the full list of eligible expenses below.
FTC FES-EO Purchasing Guide 2023-24 by ABC Action News on Scribd
