Florida SB 318: Educational Scholarship Programs

Bill Text

318 
Educational Scholarship Programs 
2026-01-14T12:37:14Z 
Creating a categorical fund for implementing the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program; creating the educational enrollment stabilization program to provide supplemental state funds to address changes in full-time equivalent student enrollment; renaming the Hope Scholarship Program as the Hope Program; requiring an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to provide a parent with certain information on scholarship programs; requiring an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to create a single application for all educational scholarship programs, etc. 
Engrossed 1 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
e1 

 CS for SB 318 First Engrossed 

 2026318e1 

 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to educational scholarship programs; 
 3 creating s. 1011.687, F.S.; creating a categorical 
 4 fund for implementing the Family Empowerment 
 5 Scholarship Program; providing requirements for the 
 6 use and disbursement of funds; defining the term 
 7 “full-time equivalent student”; requiring the 
 8 Department of Education to release funds if certain 
 9 criteria are met; providing requirements for the 
 10 release of each payment; providing requirements for 
 11 excess funds; providing that the department has access 
 12 to certain records; creating s. 1011.689, F.S.; 
 13 creating the educational enrollment stabilization 
 14 program to provide supplemental state funds to address 
 15 changes in full-time equivalent student enrollment; 
 16 authorizing the department to distribute funds to 
 17 school districts under specified conditions; 
 18 authorizing the department to provide supplemental 
 19 payments to school districts; requiring the department 
 20 to ensure funding is available for certain scholarship 
 21 programs; requiring the department to appropriate 
 22 funds from the General Appropriations Act to keep the 
 23 educational enrollment stabilization program at a 
 24 minimum balance; amending s. 1002.40, F.S.; renaming 
 25 the Hope Scholarship Program as the Hope Program; 
 26 amending s. 1002.421, F.S.; defining terms; requiring 
 27 an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization 
 28 to provide a parent with certain information on 
 29 scholarship programs; requiring an eligible nonprofit 
 30 scholarship-funding organization to create a single 
 31 application for all educational scholarship programs; 
 32 providing requirements for such application; 
 33 prohibiting an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding 
 34 organization from charging a fee for the application; 
 35 requiring an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding 
 36 organization to establish two application approval 
 37 windows; providing an exception; providing deadlines 
 38 for such application approval windows; requiring an 
 39 eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to 
 40 review applications and award scholarships in a 
 41 specified order of priority; requiring an eligible 
 42 nonprofit scholarship-funding organization to award 
 43 scholarships to newly eligible students on a first 
 44 come, first-served basis; requiring a parent to notify 
 45 the eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding 
 46 organization within a specified timeframe if a 
 47 scholarship offer is accepted or declined; specifying 
 48 fund distribution for the scholarship terms; 
 49 prohibiting a parent from applying for multiple 
 50 scholarships for an individual student at the same 
 51 time; authorizing specified students to apply for a 
 52 scholarship at any time but only receive payments 
 53 prospectively; prohibiting an eligible nonprofit 
 54 scholarship-funding organization from restricting or 
 55 reserving scholarships for use at a particular school; 
 56 requiring such organization to notify each parent of a 
 57 scholarship applicant that participation in the 
 58 program does not guarantee enrollment at a private 
 59 school; providing that a parent who submitted an 
 60 application by a specified date need not submit a new 
 61 application; authorizing a parent to withdraw his or 
 62 her application and reapply; prohibiting an eligible 
 63 nonprofit scholarship-funding organization from 
 64 requiring documentation beyond the requirements of the 
 65 scholarship program; requiring an eligible nonprofit 
 66 scholarship-funding organization to verify a student’s 
 67 eligibility upon receipt of an application; requiring 
 68 an eligible nonprofit scholarship-funding organization 
 69 to send a list of verified eligible students to the 
 70 department by specified dates; requiring the 
 71 department to assign each verified eligible student a 
 72 Florida student identification number; requiring the 
 73 organization to use such number for tracking and 
 74 reporting scholarship data; requiring the department 
 75 to cross-check each list of verified eligible students 
 76 with certain other lists; requiring the departm