Simplifying School Choice
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A brief timeline of Florida’s scholarship and ESA policies — from the 2001 FTC scholarship to today’s universal-style eligibility.
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Prefer the PDF version? Download the timeline.
Florida did not establish universal ESA-style school choice all at once. Over more than two decades, the state evolved from a single tax-credit scholarship into a set of major programs — FTC, FES-EO, FES-UA, and PEP — now used by hundreds of thousands of students.
Florida introduced the Florida Tax Credit (FTC) Scholarship in 2001, enabling companies to receive tax credits for donations to Scholarship Funding Organizations (SFOs). SFOs awarded scholarships to help eligible students attend participating private schools (and certain public options in some circumstances).
As the program grew, lawmakers raised funding caps, expanded donor eligibility, and adjusted income rules — increasing the number of students who could qualify.
By the 2010s, Florida had expanded choice through charter, virtual, magnet, and multiple scholarship pathways. In 2019, the state created the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) as a state-funded complement to FTC, aimed at expanding access and relieving pressure on the donor-funded program.
As FES evolved, Florida split it into two parts:
A major shift came in 2023 with House Bill 1, which removed most income limits for FES-EO and shifted the main scholarships toward ESA-style accounts. Families could use funds not only for tuition, but also for other approved educational expenses (subject to program handbooks and purchasing rules).
The same law created the Personalized Education Program (PEP) for eligible students pursuing home education or more customized learning outside full-time private-school enrollment.
By the mid-2020s, Florida’s system reached its current structure: FTC and FES-EO as the main private-school scholarships, FES-UA as the disability-focused program with broad eligible uses, and PEP as the ESA-style option supporting home-based or personalized education pathways.
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