Jason and Brenda were able to meet with several representatives this afternoon after today's committee, whom they wouldn't have been able to meet with if they hadn't spent the whole day at the Capitol.
They were also able to meet with Tomkow afterward, and said she was very gracious.
Brenda wants everyone to know that it's not over til it's over. We are not giving up. There is much work to be done, and Brenda and Jason are continuing to meet with representatives.
If you missed today's committee meeting, you can still watch the replay on the Florida House website here: https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/VideoPlayer.aspx?eventID=9368
So what can parents do, at this point?
Stay tuned. We are waiting to see what happens next, and we will keep you updated when we know what the next phase is on this bill.
Agreed, we don't want horses or cars. . . I can see how some of the expenses are frivoulous. I don't agree we should be spending thousands on LEGO. I really wish they would give more examples of the actual expenses being paid for that they are concerned about. I actually think some of the approved expenses are a bit much. If our kids were in public school, we would have to pay to rent instruments? So why we insist that we should be allowed to purchase them? I understand that a paddle board can be useful for sports lessons, but once again public school children aren't handed out paddle boards. I do think they should be better about covering physical movement activities like one time ice skating or trampoline parks and the like... lets get kids moving... I wish homeschool children could find a better middle ground so we don't lose EVERYTHING. However, every public school kid has access to printers and computers and these are considered standard in modern day education, but they aren't allowed. There is no consistancy. I understand that we aren't trying to replicate public school at home. And if the money ends up rolling into a college plan anyways, then why does it matter so much to them? Optics. When you ahve a child in a struggling school that can't access these "extra" expenses or possibly even a quality core education, it's not looking great when little suzi homeschooler just got a 400 dollar mixer to make cupcakes. I definitely see both sides and I wish they had rushed it though with minimal approved expenses and then backed off because the entitlement coming out of the homeschool community wouldnt be quite so obvious to them. Thank you for representing parents. Thank you for presenting resonable needs for our kids. Thank you for your sacrifice of time and much more to keep pushing for parent directed education.