SB 1608 makes several changes to Florida’s school choice scholarship laws, with a focus on private schools that provide full-time virtual instruction. For the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, the bill sets a temporary cap on the share of statewide K-12 enrollment that may be approved as full-time virtual private school students: 1% for 2025-2026, 2% for 2026-2027, and no cap beginning in 2027-2028. It also revises the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program to define “instructional activities” for virtual students and to clarify which private schools are eligible to participate when they enroll those students.
The bill would amend multiple sections of Florida Statutes governing scholarship programs and private school accountability, including ss. 1002.394, 1002.395, 1002.421, and 1003.01. It expands and clarifies requirements for private schools serving scholarship students in virtual settings, including orientation notice, a policy for nonparticipation in instructional activities, disenrollment reporting, and acceptable methods for maintaining regular and direct contact between students and online teachers. It also updates the statutory definition of regular school attendance to include students participating remotely or through virtual instruction.
The bill appears to have been framed as an accountability and clarification measure rather than a major policy reversal, but the absence of recorded votes or committee transcripts limits insight into debate. Its structure suggests an effort to accommodate growth in virtual private school participation while imposing interim limits and clearer participation standards. The fact that it died in the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee indicates it did not advance, but the available record does not show a formal vote or documented opposition in the materials provided.
The main points of potential contention are the temporary enrollment caps on full-time virtual private school students, the added compliance obligations for private schools, and the new authority to disenroll students who do not participate in required instructional activities. Private schools and scholarship administrators may view the bill’s reporting, orientation, and policy requirements as necessary oversight, while critics could see them as burdensome or as limiting access to scholarship-funded virtual education. The bill also touches on broader concerns about how to define attendance, teacher contact, and accountability in online schooling.