Florida led the nation on school choice for decades, at least until West Virginia and Arizona seized the school choice crown by passing universal school choice legislation in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
For a brief moment, those states stood as premier examples of education freedom. But their victory might as well have been the starting gun. Since then, three other states – Iowa, Utah, and Arkansas - enacted universal school choice legislation, and a race to provide more opportunities to students in red states begun.
Florida, which long boasted the nation’s broadest, most widely used school choice programs, just returned with a vengeance and took back the top spot.
On Monday, Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1 into law. Sponsored by Rep. Kaylee Tuck and Sen. Corey Simon, and the priority of Speaker Paul Renner, HB 1 expands Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship to universal eligibility. All of the Sunshine State’s 2.8 million K-12 students will be eligible for education savings accounts (ESA).
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Florida families will have access to roughly $7,500 for a variety of pre-approved educational expenses, including tuition at a non-public school, tutoring, curriculum, or other services.
The legislation moved easily through both Florida’s House and Senate – with all Republicans voting in favor, along with four House Democrats. The school choice bill passed the Florida House by a vote of 83 to 27 and the Senate 26 to 12.
The program prioritizes students based on income. Families with annual incomes below 180 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) have access first, then families below 400 percent FPL, and then everyone else.
Florida has a long history as the North Star for school choice, creating its first program in 1999 under Governor Jeb Bush. Over two decades, they expanded choice offerings to 250,000 students. For comparison, Arizona’s ESA program currently serves more than 50,000 students, nearly five times more than before last year’s universal expansion.
Expanding school choice to all students reflects the belief that every family deserves the freedom to access individualized education. The state portion of per-pupil education funding will now follow students to their desired education provider, instead of flowing into the district system automatically based on ZIP code.
Universal eligibility in Florida will give about as many students access to school choice as the other five universal states combined. The total number of K-12 students in Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, and West Virginia is roughly 3 million kids, just slightly more than Florida’s 2.83 million K-12 students.
In other words, in one fell swoop, Florida nearly doubled the number of students with access to universal school choice in America.
This is merely the latest victory in a multi-year trend towards education freedom and parental rights in legislation. Shaken by COVID-19 schools’ closures and political missteps by teachers’ unions, more than half of the states have passed legislation to expand school choice options in the last three years. The education revolution is upon us, and Florida is helping to lead the charge.
In 2018, Governor DeSantis won his gubernatorial election through the help of school choice parents. Through this legislation, he has officially delivered for all families and cemented the biggest year for school choice in American history.
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But legislative sessions are far from over. Pending legislation in states such as Georgia, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas would offer similar school choice opportunities to families. As the momentum builds, it is increasingly clear that education freedom is a winning issue for parents and students alike.
Lawmakers, especially in red states, are competing to create education opportunities for families. Universal school choice legislation in Texas could double the number of eligible students by offering ESA’s to over 5.4 million Texan students.
Further, state leaders are interested in being the best for school choice. Lawmakers recognize that school choice is not just the right thing to do, but also a political winner and a key part of making states competitive.
The prevalence of parents fighting for their kids and the desirability of school choice as an issue raises a question: which state is coming for the crown next?
Nathan Cunneen is a communications strategist at the American Federation for Children and a past recipient of Florida’s tax-credit scholarship program.
