For those who are wondering, here are the primary issues Brenda and Jason are actively lobbying for in relation to HB1403:
1) Amending the limitation on equipment as instructional materials for PEP
2) Adding digital devices for PEP
3) Timing of PEP funding for parents (to ensure parents have funds in a timely manner for the start of the school year and subsequent quarters)
4) Definition of Home Education Instructional Programs, and differentiating those from learning pods/microschools
5) Adding PEP into the related statutes for the "opportunities and flexibility" currently referenced from 1002.41 (3-12) in 1002.395 (extracurriculars at school districts, dual enrollment, Bright Futures, etc.)
6) Ensuring school districts have a mechanism to accept PEP students and bill them for classes
7) Ensuring there is a UA-parent advisory board to guide and inform the construction of the UA purchasing guide. (CS/HB1403 specifies the UA purchasing guide will be formulated by a joint effort between The Center for Unique Abilities and the SFOs and we want to make sure parents have a say in this process.)
8) Limiting the authority of the SFOs to add spending caps or other restrictions on scholarship spending not specifically limited in statute, for both PEP and UA.
If any of these issues resonate with you, we encourage you to contact your representatives about them!
I have instructions on how to do that in a recent post here: https://www.flhef.org//forum/2024-legislative-updates/if-you-are-concerned-about-hb1403-and-want-to-help
I just realized the issue of limiting authority of the SFOs for both UA and PEP got omitted from this list when I posted it! I added it back in.
Thank you !
I'm confused about the concern that parents won't have any say in the development of the guidelines for FES-UA.
The last page of the bill has a section that says "The center must consult with parents of a student with a disability participating in the scholarship program in the development and revision of the guidelines..." So, they did include that, although it may need to be revised to say "parents of students" instead of "parents of a student" to ensure multiple perspectives, but that seems like a minor correction compared to the rest of the issues that aren't included at all.
My question is why are we not suggesting the same sort of guidelines for PEP? It would make more sense to require a collaboration with parents and the SFOs, and perhaps with an advisory board of "Choice Navigators" since the language for that is already in there. Homeschool evaluators are at least knowledgable enough about homeschooling that we could trust their input probably better than the SFOs alone.
Also, I think parents really need a working definition of instructional materials to use, because everyone is simply complaining about electives and the reps aren't listening because they believe elective classes are still covered. I think most of us have quit mentioning digital devices because it seems impossible to have something added now that it seems like they are trying to take most of what we have away.