By Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
The organization providing approximately 99% of school choice scholarships in Florida has released its guide for what families can and cannot purchase with state-funded vouchers when homeschooling their children.
Step Up For Students has released its 2024-2025 purchasing guide for recipients of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, Personalized Education Program, or Family Empowerment Scholarship, all forms of state education assistance. As in the past, authorized purchases include paddle boards, televisions, and theme park admission for Florida parks such as Disney World, Sea World, Universal, and Legoland.
Josie Tomkow via Florida House
The list is largely unchanged since an earlier version prompted discussion during this year’s legislative session about whether the program needed guardrails. A bill introduced by Rep. Josie Tomkow, a Republican from Central Florida, would have limited eligible items to materials linked to basic areas like language arts, math, science, and social studies — and kept out items not to be directly tied to education.
The Legislature did not approve those changes. The guide as published allows the purchases listed above as well as physical education items like swim goggles, skateboards, musical instruments, and dress-up clothing.
“When the Florida Legislature proposed restrictions on [education savings account] spending in the 2024 session, many families contacted their lawmakers or testified at committee hearings opposing the changes, arguing they would limit their ability to provide arts and other enrichment opportunities to their children,” said Scott Kent, communications director for Step Up, in an email. “Lawmakers listened, and the proposals failed to pass.”
Step Up defended its reimbursements for theme park passes if a family provides a statement of educational benefit for the student.
“Families provided Step Up with numerous examples of how theme parks contribute to their students’ customized learning plans, such as a homeschool family incorporating all the different history and culture lessons available at Disney World, including art and music festivals,” Kent said. “Parents point to how the parks tie directly into curriculum: If they’re doing zoology, they go to Animal Kingdom; if they’re doing marine biology they go to Sea World, etc.”
Families can be reimbursed for home school supplies such as curricula, tables, chairs, and whiteboards as well as for televisions up to 55 inches, projectors and screens, picnic tables, fees for Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, woodworking supplies, in-home internet service, Nintendo Wii equipment, Legos, board games, ping pong tables, printer ink, and stuffed animals.
The program does not reimburse families for laptops, cellphones, gaming systems other than Wii equipment (unless they’re movement-based), printers, sports event tickets, and other items, according to the guide.
