HB1 expands eligibility for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and the Family Empowerment Scholarship for K-12 students, which includes homeschoolers by establishing the Personal Education Program.
The Senate passed HB1 on March 23, 2023, by a vote of 26 to 12. We have assigned pluses to the nays because education is not the role of government. A child’s education is the responsibility of—and a fundamental right of choice retained by—his or her parents. Moreover, aside from entangling homeschool families with further government regulations, these refundable tax-credit “scholarships” mean that “eligible” families in Florida with little or no tax liability are given government funds to pay for their child’s education. Educational freedom cannot be achieved by forcing other citizens to furnish their hard-earned taxpayer dollars for a compulsory, failing, and government-run K-12 school system.