Measure Bolsters Private School Student Equity; FCCB Engages Additional Education Proposals

On February 18, an FCCB supported measure that provides dual enrollment equity for private school students was approved by committees in the House and Senate. Public and home-school students currently do not have to pay for dual enrollment courses at nearby colleges.

SB 1246 (Stargel) and HB 187 (Zika) would make college more affordable for Florida families by increasing access to dual enrollment courses at state colleges and universities for private high school students. Certain courses would be made available without requiring payment by the family or the student's school.

The FCCB also engaged the following education bills this week:

• HB 1013 (Grall) addresses early learning and early grade success. FCCB supported an amendment to the bill that would allow certification in educational leadership to satisfy credential requirements for the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education (VPK) Program.
• FCCB supports HB 7067, which expands the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) Program by allowing eligibility for students from low-income families in grades 1 and 2 without their having attended public schools the prior year. HB 7067 and a similar bill, SB 1400 (Diaz), both align the FES Program with the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program by allowing students to take up to two Florida Virtual School (FLVS) courses per school year without reducing their basic FES scholarship amounts.