What Is Florida HB 1? ESA Amounts, Eligibility, and Approved Uses

Florida HB 1, signed into law in 2023, expanded the state’s school choice program so that every K-12 student living in Florida can receive an Education Savings Account to pay for private school tuition, curriculum, tutoring, and other approved education costs. For the 2025–26 school year, award amounts run roughly $7,400 to $11,950 per student depending on grade level and home school district.¹

What HB 1 Actually Did

Before 2023, Florida’s main scholarship programs had income caps. HB 1 restructured the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO) and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) under a single ESA framework and removed the income limits.² The law took effect July 1, 2023.

Families no longer pick between the old program labels when they apply. One application goes to one of two state-approved Scholarship Funding Organizations, and eligibility is decided from there.

Who Qualifies Now

Any Florida resident who is eligible to enroll in kindergarten through 12th grade at a public school qualifies for an ESA. Dependents of active-duty military members with permanent change-of-station orders to Florida also qualify.³

Universal eligibility does not mean universal funding. When applications exceed available slots, the state fills them in priority order:

First priority: students with household income at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level, plus students in foster care or out-of-home care.
Second priority: students with household income above 185 percent but at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level.
Third priority: everyone else.

Once a student is awarded a scholarship, they keep their place in subsequent years as long as they renew on time.³

How Much Your Family Receives

The award is not a flat statewide number. It is calculated from the per-student funding formula for your home public school district and adjusted by grade level. For 2025–26, students in grades K–3 receive the most, generally in the range of $8,100 to $10,000 in most districts. High school students receive somewhat less, roughly $7,400 to $9,300. A few districts such as Monroe County sit noticeably above the statewide range.¹

Amounts change each year with state appropriations. Check the current schedule for your district before committing to a particular private school, because tuition often exceeds the award and the family covers the gap out of pocket.

What You Can Spend the Money On

The ESA is more flexible than a straight tuition voucher. Florida law allows funds to be spent across several categories:³

Private school tuition and fees.
Instructional materials, including textbooks, workbooks, digital resources, and internet-based learning tools.
Purchased curriculum programs for private school or home-based use.
Part-time tutoring from approved providers, and consultations with a Choice Navigator who helps families select schools, choose curriculum, and plan for postsecondary education.
Testing fees for nationally normed achievement tests, Advanced Placement exams, industry certifications, and college admission assessments.
Postsecondary tuition at community colleges, eligible university programs, and approved pre-apprenticeship programs.
Fees for individual classes or contracted services at a public school on a part-time basis, without losing ESA eligibility.

Every transaction is reviewed by the Scholarship Funding Organization before payment. Purchases outside the approved categories get rejected, so you cannot spend first and explain later.

Students With Disabilities Get a Bigger Scholarship

Children with disabilities qualify for the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA), which starts as young as age three and pays substantially more. For 2025–26, FES-UA awards run roughly $10,000 to over $39,000 depending on the student’s disability classification, grade, and district.⁴ The account balance cap is also higher, at $50,000, compared with $24,000 for the standard FES-EO scholarship.³

FES-UA also allows a wider range of expenses. Beyond everything the standard ESA covers, families can pay for specialized therapies from approved providers, assistive technology devices and maintenance, and services from Florida hospitals selected by the parent.⁵

One trade-off deserves attention before you move a child with a disability from public to private school. A private school is not required to deliver the same specialized services a public school provides under federal law. Public schools must offer a free appropriate public education tailored to the child’s needs. When a parent voluntarily enrolls a child in a private school, the district’s obligation narrows to offering an opportunity to participate in a share of federal special education funding.⁶ Confirm the private school can actually deliver the therapies and accommodations your child needs before giving up those public school obligations.

How To Apply and When

Applications go through one of two state-approved Scholarship Funding Organizations: Step Up For Students or the AAA Scholarship Foundation. These nonprofits handle eligibility determinations, account management, and expense review.⁷ You create an online account with the SFO you choose, complete the application, and upload proof of Florida residency and the student’s identity.

For the 2026–27 school year, renewing students who want priority consideration must submit the application by April 30, 2026. Applications after that date are treated as new. New students can apply through November 15, 2026.⁸

Three groups can apply at any point in the school year regardless of these deadlines: dependents of active-duty military, students in foster care or out-of-home care, and students who experienced bullying or harassment at a public school. Those families should call Step Up For Students directly at (877) 735-7837.⁸

Approval is not the end. Under the statute, new applicants must notify the SFO by December 15 whether they accept or decline the scholarship, and renewal applicants must do so by May 31.³ Miss the acceptance deadline and your child can lose the seat.

How the Money Reaches Vendors

Scholarship funds never go into a family’s personal bank account. The state deposits money into a restricted online account managed by the SFO, and families either pay vendors directly through the SFO’s platform or submit receipts for reimbursement. Each transaction is reviewed against the allowable expense list before payment is released.

Payments arrive quarterly. For 2026–27, Step Up For Students publishes specific enrollment-verification and payment dates; generally, families who complete verification by mid-June receive the first disbursement around August 1, with later payments in November, February, and April.⁹

Unspent funds roll over from one year to the next, which is a real advantage over a traditional voucher. The state caps the running account balance at $24,000 for standard FES-EO students and $50,000 for FES-UA students. Once the balance hits the cap, no new deposits land until spending brings it back down.³ Any interest earned stays in the account and can only be used for approved expenses.

When an Account Gets Closed

Florida will close an ESA and reclaim remaining funds in three situations:³

Fraud or abuse, where the Commissioner of Education denies or revokes eligibility.
Two consecutive fiscal years with no account activity.
A full-time enrollment scholarship student remaining unenrolled in an eligible private school for 30 consecutive days.

FES-UA accounts carry one additional trigger: if three consecutive years pass after high school graduation without enrollment in an eligible postsecondary institution, the account closes and funds revert to the state. The ESA is tied to active education use; if you stop using it, you lose it.

Choosing a Participating School

Not every private school in Florida can accept ESA students. Schools that participate must meet requirements enforced by the Florida Department of Education:¹⁰

A Florida site where students attend full-time, in-person classes.
At least three years of operation, or a surety bond or letter of credit equal to one quarter of scholarship funds.
Compliance with federal civil rights requirements prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, or national origin.
Teachers who hold at least a bachelor’s degree, have three or more years of teaching experience, or possess specialized subject expertise.
Level 2 criminal background screening for owners, operators, and staff with direct student contact.
Compliance with state and local health, safety, fire, and building codes.
An on-site Department of Education visit before the first scholarship payment.

Schools receiving more than $250,000 in scholarship funds annually must also submit an independent CPA report each year. When you tour a school, ask how long it has participated and whether it has completed the DOE site visit; a school that has cleared both has a track record you can verify.

Testing Your Child Will Still Take

ESA students are not exempt from standardized testing. Students in grades 3 through 10 must take either a nationally norm-referenced test approved by the Florida Department of Education or the statewide assessment each year.¹⁰ Private schools must also give parents quarterly progress reports and publish teacher qualifications.

Using ESA Money Alongside a 529

Families who contribute to a 529 college savings plan need to watch for overlap. The IRS does not allow more than one education tax benefit for the same expense. You cannot pay a tuition bill with ESA scholarship funds and then also count that same tuition as a qualified 529 withdrawal.¹¹

A clean approach is to use ESA funds first for tuition and approved K-12 costs and keep 529 money for expenses the ESA does not cover or for future postsecondary bills. If private school tuition exceeds the ESA award, you can pay the difference from a 529 without conflict, because you are not covering the same dollars twice.

1
Step Up For Students. 2025-26 Scholarship Amounts – Private School Scholarships
2
Florida Senate. CS/CS/CS/CS/HB 1 – Education
3
Florida Senate. Florida Code 1002.394 – The Family Empowerment Scholarship Program
4
Step Up For Students. 2025-26 Unique Abilities Scholarship Award Amounts
5
Florida Department of Education. Family Empowerment Scholarship
6
U.S. Department of Education. Children with Disabilities Enrolled by Their Parents in Private Schools
7
Florida Department of Education. Scholarship Funding Organizations
8
Step Up For Students. Apply – Private School Scholarship
9
Step Up For Students. Fund – Private School Scholarship
10
Florida Department of Education. Requirements for Participating in State Scholarship Programs
11
Internal Revenue Service. Qualified Education Expenses