FloridaSB 25102025SenateWALLET

Prekindergarten Through Grade 12 Education

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

22 provisions identified: 13 benefits, 3 costs, 6 mixed.

More children qualify for learning scholarships

New Worlds Scholarship Accounts are available to students in Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten program or public kindergarten through grade 5. Students no longer need to show the earlier reading or math difficulties. Accounts remain first come, first served, subject to available funds. Parents no longer face the former requirement to apply through a scholarship organization by its deadline.

More students gain Schools of Hope access

Schools of Hope can serve students from persistently low-performing schools or students living in a Florida Opportunity Zone. Qualifying school criteria include specified low grades, closure within two years after a notice of intent, or low test performance. The test route means the bottom 10% in grade 3 English or grade 4 math in two of three prior years. These students receive enrollment preference throughout the performance agreement and lottery exemption when federal grant rules permit. Title I-eligible Schools of Hope can locate outside target areas when the district has no available underused, vacant, or surplus property there.

Teacher bonuses for Cambridge exam results

Beginning July 1, 2025, districts pay teachers $50 per AICE student or $25 per pre-AICE student scoring “E” or higher. Teachers at schools graded “D” or “F” get an extra $500 for AICE or $250 for pre-AICE, with at least one qualifying student. A teacher receiving the $500 bonus cannot also receive the $250 bonus. School funding calculations also give a 0.08 value for qualifying half-credit AICE results and 0.3 for an AICE diploma.

Teacher bonuses for International Baccalaureate results

Beginning July 1, 2025, districts pay International Baccalaureate teachers $50 per student with a qualifying result. Students qualify by scoring at least 4 on an exam or earning at least “C” in Theory of Knowledge. Teachers of the applicable course at D- or F-graded schools get another $500 when at least one student qualifies. School funding calculations assign 0.16 for a qualifying exam or Theory of Knowledge result and 0.3 for an IB diploma.

Teachers earn bonuses for career credentials

Beginning July 1, 2025, a replacement CAPE supplement provides teacher bonuses rather than ending certification-linked bonuses altogether. Teachers who provided qualifying instruction receive $25, $50, or $75 per student assigned funding values of 0.1, 0.2, or 0.3. They receive $100 for values of 0.5 or 1.0, covering acceleration credentials worth 15–29 or at least 30 college credits. The 0.3 pathway requires three courses, a certification in one career program, and a standard diploma; from 2025-2026, the 0.025 Digital Tool value covers only elementary students. Teachers are ineligible for bonuses after examination-security or assessment-administration violations that may result in a bonus.

Families face tighter learning scholarship rules

New Worlds Scholarship Accounts close after one consecutive fiscal year without activity, down from three; remaining money returns to the state. Districts and private preschool providers no longer must explain scholarship access when sharing screening and progress results. Districts also lose the specific ban on blocking staff’s after-hours, on-campus scholarship services. At the first quarter’s start each fiscal year, 100% of appropriated account funds go to Florida’s education department. The law removes the 45-day student-funding release deadline without setting a new deadline for individual accounts.

District support adjusts to student enrollment

Florida recalculates school enrichment, guaranteed special-education, and juvenile-justice education funding during the year using actual full-time-equivalent enrollment. The property-tax equalizing supplement also follows actual enrollment, allowing allocations to rise or fall. The amendments remove specific directions to reduce recalculated enrichment and guaranteed special-education allocations to the appropriated amounts. Beginning in fiscal year 2025-2026, new entities in the school funding program use the budget’s statewide average base for enrichment funding.

State school support follows actual enrollment

University- and Florida College System-sponsored charter schools receive base funding, a property-tax equalizing supplement, and a state-funded discretionary contribution. They also receive shares of targeted program funds when their students or programs qualify. The state recalculates discretionary contributions during the year using actual full-time-equivalent enrollment. This recalculation also covers developmental research schools and Florida Virtual School, so funding can rise or fall with enrollment.

Schools can offer parents reading guidance

District reading plans can include resources for parents of children who struggle with reading or read below grade level. These resources can explain eligibility for the New Worlds Reading Initiative. Districts are allowed, but not required, to provide them.

Schools get funding for career credentials

Districts receive supplemental funding for approved digital certificates and industry credentials, including qualifying middle-grades credentials, instead of former student-count bonuses. Acceleration credentials must count toward at least 15 college credits and be completed successfully. Career Pathways funding requires three courses and a listed certification in one career program, plus a standard high school diploma. Funding-list credentials must appear on the Master Credentials List and meet statewide, regional, or local demand. Funding tied to regional or local demand is limited to areas where the Credentials Review Committee identifies that demand.

Schools of Hope gain sponsorship routes

Hope operators apply to a state university or Florida College System institution, or submit a notice to a district. Operators using an institutional agreement must also notify the relevant district. The sponsor and operator must enter a performance-based agreement. On request, the education department can designate a school or qualifying nonprofit running multiple Schools of Hope as a local education agency for federal funding. Designated entities must accept the related duties; designated nonprofits can report students directly to the department.

Schools of Hope get free facilities

Districts must let Schools of Hope use all or part of underused, vacant, or surplus district facilities. Facility-related services follow State Board of Education rules. Hope operators establishing schools can use identified facilities at no cost. The law removes the former option to charge an agreed amount up to $600 per student.

Small districts get extra funding weights

Florida’s base school funding formula includes extra student-count weights for qualifying small districts and small, isolated schools. The small-district adjustment covers districts below 10,000 full-time-equivalent students with fewer than three students at special-education Support Levels IV or V. Eligible isolated schools use a 2.75 student-count multiplier, subject to distance, enrollment, and free-or-reduced-price-lunch thresholds. Their districts must levy the maximum allowed nonvoted discretionary property-tax rate.

Sunland education program receives state funding

The agency operating the Marianna Sunland Center’s education program receives an annual state allocation. It equals the school funding the local district would receive for that program under the specified formulas. The agency can operate the program directly or through a grant or contract with another public education agency.

Public agencies shielded from school debt

Schools of Hope are responsible for their loans, bonds, and other financing agreements, payable only from pledged funding sources. Florida, state universities, Florida College System institutions, and school districts cannot pledge their credit or taxing power for these schools. Financing from outside these public entities must protect them from liability, including loan principal and interest payments. These rules do not make households responsible for school debt.

Schools of Hope gain ongoing support

Schools of Hope can keep receiving funds after their first five years by meeting state performance measures. They can spend performance-based funds on any operating costs. Beginning July 1, 2027, the revolving loan fund’s administrator must transfer money when the Schools of Hope program falls below $25 million. Transfers must restore the program’s balance to $25 million.

Grade limits narrow school credential support

Required availability of CAPE Digital Tool certificates now covers public elementary students, not middle-grades students. Schools can still offer those certificates in middle grades. Beginning in fiscal year 2026-2027, the education commissioner sets eligible grades for funding-listed industry certifications each year. Those limits must match career programs and suitable grade placement.

Schools lose homeroom adviser funding credits

Districts no longer receive extra student-count funding for approved homeroom adviser programs in grades 4 through 8. The former credit counted program hours, up to 36 hours per fiscal year. The law removes the funding credit, not the adviser program itself.

School funding faces new review checks

Districts must report student membership by program and school for Florida’s school funding formula. Final reports separately count district and Family Empowerment Scholarship students without duplicates; the education department sets counting intervals. Beginning July 1, 2025, the department must give lawmakers and the Governor’s executive office data to reproduce each recalculation. It cannot send the recalculated program to districts until both confirm in writing that it follows the law.

School rewards shift for advanced coursework

The law moves advanced-course rewards into an academic acceleration supplement, rather than ending all support for these achievements. It replaces former dual-enrollment student-count bonuses of 0.16 and 0.08 for qualifying courses and 0.30 for associate degrees with a 3.0 GPA. The new supplement includes a 0.16 value for qualifying early-college or dual-enrollment completions and 0.30 for qualifying associate degrees. Former International Baccalaureate bonuses of 0.16 for exam scores of at least 4 and 0.30 for diplomas are also repealed. The former rules directing at least 50% of dual-enrollment bonuses to generating schools and 80% of International Baccalaureate bonuses to specified programs end.

Schools of Hope funding and oversight

Schools of Hope students count toward district building and Public Education Capital Outlay maintenance funding calculations. The law sets no dollar amount for this change. Schools operating under performance-based agreements must send sponsors quarterly financial summaries and meet annual audit rules. A nonprofit designated as a local education agency can instead submit the required statements and audit covering itself and its schools.

Schools retain targeted early graduation funding

Beginning July 1, 2025, the law replaces former early-graduation funding credits with the same achievement values in a supplement. Schools generate a 0.25 value when students graduate one semester early, or 0.5 at least one year early. Districts must spend this money on early-graduation options, not replace base school funding. If a student attended the reporting district full time for less than two high-school years, it must share proportionally with the prior district.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Appropriations
Affiliation unavailable

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 244 • No: 46

Senate vote • 6/16/2025

Senate Floor Vote

Yes: 25 • No: 9

House vote • 6/16/2025

House Floor Vote

Yes: 80 • No: 24

House vote • 5/13/2025