Florida House Passes School Choice Bill Expanding Scholarship Program

Florida Republicans have long championed the option of school choice for Floridians. In a vote of 79-36 for the school choice bill, the Florida House voted to expand the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, which provides students with more options regarding where they can attend school. The bill, HB 7045, was sponsored by Florida Rep. Randy Fine (R).

The expansion of school choice allows for a family of four earning less than $100,000 to receive full funding of K-12 education costs at the school of their choice. It also expands eligibility to children that aren’t enrolled in a public school along with children whose parents are serving in the military or children that are adopted or siblings of children who are receiving school choice scholarships.

In a statement, Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls (R) praised the legislation, commenting that “this bipartisan legislation provides the largest expansion of school choice programs in our nation’s history, giving our parents and students more options than ever on where to get quality K-12 education.” “Florida’s families will have more choice and more flexibility in where they can send their children to school if sweeping legislation passed in the Florida House today becomes law,” Sprowls added.

Fine, who sponsored the bill, also lauded the bill, explaining that “It’s going to make more children eligible for school choice, it’s going to provide them with more money for their school choice options and it is going to provide more flexibility in how they take advantage of those options.”

Since embarking on his gubernatorial run, Governor Ron DeSantis (R) made his support for school choice very clear. One day after signing an increase in public school teacher salaries, considered the largest increase in Florida’s history, he signed HB7067, which allowed the Family Empowerment Scholarship to grow by at least 28,000 students every year.