Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has officially declared it to be School Choice Week in Florida, bringing the state in step with a national public awareness effort encouraging families to celebrate and learn about their options.
DeSantis’ proclamation follows a year of unprecedented nationwide school choice expansions.
The state recently enhanced its educational choices for families by transforming the existing Family Empowerment Scholarship Educational Opportunity Voucher Program and Florida Tax Credit Program into ESA programs.
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These educational programs are now open to all children statewide who desire to attend a non-public school.
The proclamation highlights Florida’s leadership in offering families choice opportunities.
It emphasizes that the state ranks number one for education freedom on the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Index of State Education Freedom: A 50-State Guide to Parental Empowerment’s Report Card on American Education and that Florida offers a variety of educational choice options that include many different types of public and non-public schools, as well as programs for families who educate their children in the home.
“School Choice Week in Florida” is timed to coincide with National School Choice Week, a weeklong national celebration of K-12 education that takes place during the last week of January.
For the week, parents, schools, and other organizers have planned 2,744 events and activities across Florida –– including a student showcase and a school fair –– all of which aim to spark conversations about the opportunities parents have or want to have, for their children’s education.
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More than 27,000 events have been independently planned for the week nationwide, raising awareness about school choices of every type.
“Florida leads the nation in providing parents with more choices for their children’s education. For example, the Sunshine State offers some of the most flexible and parent-friendly public school open enrollment policies in the country, gives families more public charter school options than in most other states, is a national leader in providing parents with programs that make private and nontraditional education more affordable, and empowers parents with significant flexibility in homeschooling their kids.” said Andrew Campanella, president and CEO at the National School Choice Awareness Foundation. “We are grateful to Gov. DeSantis for shining a spotlight on those opportunities.”
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