Key Issues (and Positives!) for 2026 Florida Senate Bill 318 [SB 318: Educational Scholarship Programs]

On today's HEF livestream, we covered some key issues we're concerned about with Senate Bill 318 for this upcoming session. (For our full discussion, you can view the video from today's livestream on Facebook, YouTube, or Rumble, or listen to the podcast version on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Amazon Music!)

Below is a rundown (in writing) of those issues we discussed today.

There are also some positive changes in this bill from what we saw last year, which we're listing here, too!

CALL TO ACTION:

We highly suggest that parents reach out to your local Representatives and Senators about any of these issues which personally affect you and your children. Personal letters from parents can make a big difference in which issues take priority for further discussion.

(Don't forget to thank your legislators for the positives in this bill, also! They hear lots of concerns but don't often receive thanks for things done well. A little thanks can make a big impact.)

Please be sure to join our Discord for further discussion on these issues and for helpful options for getting involved!

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Key Issues with (2026) SB318:

(Lines 851+) The bill breaks the scholarships from 4 quarterly payments into 10 equal installments.

This creates an overly restrictive burden that inhibits parents from being able to adequately direct their funds toward programs that require upfront deposits, or secure enough starting materials for the educational year. Parents traditionally plan ahead, make purchases upfront for most of the year, and then prepare the materials, and then execute on the student learning plan. This will make it very difficult to plan ahead and prepare. Taking the two payments off the end of the year and placing them doubled up on the beginning of the year would make more sense as that's when they're most needed.

(Lines 576+) Creates a single application process for all the scholarships (but with only one application window for PEP).

There are families that would benefit from being able to apply for PEP in both of the application windows available in the year, but they're only given 1 application window.

Students who would have previously been eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program would have to wait an entire year to access PEP in the event that they were being harassed or bullied.

(Lines 3816+) Lack of clarity around the end of the year and graduation processing for PEP families.

PEP does not have a graduation date, timeframe, etc. It was created to mirror home education which has beginning and ending dates that match the Letter of Intent, which can take place anytime during the year. With funding dropping September 15, and only 1/10 of the amount previously had, many students may not even begin schooling until October, so when would their graduation and therefore the termination of their funds take place? Not to mention that if the final installment is May, but the termination is June or later, then that would mean they do not even have enough time to adequately get the reimbursements before the funds terminate from the account.

The bill imposes new paperwork requirements on families, including families who have already been approved for a scholarship in the next school year:

(1.) (Lines 1693+) Requires a public-school withdrawal form from families who have not been in a public school for at least a full school year preceding their scholarship application, creating an onerous burden on families to work with a school system they have been disconnected from.

(2.) (Lines 571+) Requires families who have already been given a scholarship for the 2026-2027 school year under the current statutory framework to submit additional paperwork to keep their scholarship. This changes the rules of game midstream, creating an unfair compliance expectation of families.

(Lines 793+) The bill requires families to constantly attest (with every payment) that their child is not enrolled in full-time in a public school and is enrolled in and in attendance at either a private school, home education, or PEP.

This is an unnecessary and onerous exercise.

The bill does not include public school district accountability to ensure their end of the process does not inhibit or delay a parent’s ability to access a scholarship.

Specifically, the bill contains no provision detailing what happens if a school district fails to return a signed public school withdrawal form within the specified timeframe. At minimum, an SFO should be allowed to fund a student whose family properly submitted a public school withdrawal form but the school district failed to sign and return the form within the specified timeframe.

(Lines 2621+) The bill reduces the administrative fee by 1%, which will not open the door to SFO competition nor incentivize greater operational efficacy for the SFOs.

Florida’s administrative fee is already the lowest in the country. Lowering it further will not meaningfully contribute to more scholarships being funded – it will simply reduce the likelihood that strong administrative partners will want to help in Florida.

No amount of additional bureaucracy through policy will solve what is ultimately a technology and data governance challenge.

Invest in better data and technology to invest better in the students of Florida.

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Key Thanks in the Bill:

Fixed Background Check Issues:

The background check/screening requirement would only apply to individual service providers in the SFO's direct-pay online marketplace.

Digital devices:

Added to all scholarships!

Opens FES-UA up to the Hybrid Model:

Part time enrollment in private school for 2+ days a week and finishing remaining instructional time with their home education program.

Added Eligible Expense:

"membership dues and related activity fees for participation in career and technical student organizations."

For ongoing updates and discussion on these issues and any others that arise, be sure to join our Discord!