Florida lawmakers explore expansion of state's school voucher program

ORLANDO, Fla. - Lawmakers in Florida are looking into expanding the state's school voucher program to allow more students with unique abilities.

However, parents are voicing their frustrations to lawmakers and on social media about how the current program is being run.

"Cash flow is significantly reduced, people are borrowing money from individuals to cover payroll, people are maxing their line of credit just to borrow funds," Longwood parent and advocate, Barbara Beasley told FOX 35. "We have parents that are you know at risk of losing their homes, at risk of losing their services from their providers."

Step up for Students is the contractor hired by the state to manage and distribute the state's voucher money. The program is meant to provide money to families for private school tuition, but it can also be used for therapy and homeschooling among other options.

Some of the common complaints have been voucher payments not being received on time, and having to access funds off a payroll card instead of direct deposit.

Beasley's daughter, Emily needs special education plans that require her to homeschool. In one situation, Beasley said it took months for them to approve certain purchases.

In a statement response, Step Up for Students said, "With the broad population of ESAs now there will be a significant percentage of families who are unbanked, and there would be no way to get them reimbursement funds.  For this reason, Step Up decided to reimburse new UA and PEP families through a bank card. Step Up has used these cards for the state's New Worlds Reading ESA for roughly two years with few complaints. Parents can deposit money from the cards into their own account at a branch of their own bank or use them like a debit card. However, Step Up has heard the concerns of the families and will be rolling out an alternative for those who want it in the next few weeks."

"Step Up by no means minimizes the impact on these families still awaiting funding. Florida is implementing the largest education choice program in the nation. The process will improve with every quarter as initial onboarding issues are resolved. We are working daily to improve the experience for families and schools."

Representative Kelly Skidmore had some stern words to lawmakers in Tallahassee during the special session. "There better be some guardrails around Step Up for Students and for these programs. We're going to see a lot of students failing and a lot of businesses in Florida fail."

Republican House Speaker Paul Renner told a group of reporters, "We are absolutely going to look at how we can make this more efficient, how do we get the money out faster for people." 

In 2023, Step Up will serve more than 350,000 students across the state. 83,941 students are on the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities. 126,028 students on the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. 130,599 students are the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options.