FL H5101

Restructures the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program (s. 1002.394) by removing the limitation to families with "limited financial resources," establishing firm application deadlines (July 1, September 1, December 1 for new students; May 31 for renewals beginning 2025-2026), and requiring parents to verify their child is not attending a public school before approving each quarterly scholarship deposit.

Imposes stricter accountability on scholarship-funding organizations, requiring submission of verified student lists 30 days before each quarterly payment, recovery of funds improperly received by private schools or parents, payment to providers within 7 business days of parent approval, and disbursement of at least 85% (up from 75%) of net eligible tax credit contributions during the collection year.

Requires the Department of Education to assign Florida student identification numbers to all scholarship students, cross-check verified scholarship lists against FTE survey data before releasing funds, prohibit fund release to students without an assigned ID number, and investigate possible fraud — defined as intentional deception resulting in unauthorized benefit.

Establishes fixed quarterly payment dates of August 1, November 1, February 1, and April 1 for renewing scholarship students (September 1 start for new students) across both the Family Empowerment and Tax Credit Scholarship programs, with the Department prohibited from releasing state funds outside the authorized schedule.

Caps scholarship awards at no more than 99% of a school district's FEFP state funding share in any single district, and limits the maximum carry-forward of tax credit contributions to 15% (down from 25%) of net eligible contributions or the amount adopted by the Education Estimating Conference, whichever is less.

Revises the FEFP formula by renaming the base calculation to "base Florida Education Finance Program," incorporating additional FTE membership weights directly into the base calculation, and reducing the maximum share of a district's total FEFP from required local effort millage from 90% to 85%.

Reduces the early graduation FTE bonus from 0.25 to 0.125 FTE for one-semester-early graduates and from 0.5 to 0.25 FTE for students graduating a year or more early.

Repeals the Educational Enrollment Stabilization Program, which had provided supplemental state funds to protect districts from enrollment fluctuations with a projected minimum balance of $250 million, and eliminates several proration provisions for categorical programs.

Moves the state-funded discretionary supplement for Family Empowerment Scholarship students from s. 1011.62(16) into a new standalone statute (s. 1011.695), and replaces the formal Appropriation Allocation Conference with a recalculation process requiring written approval from the Legislature and Executive Office of the Governor before results are provided to school districts.

Expands the Education Estimating Conference's responsibilities to forecast FTE students eligible for FEFP funding and tax credit scholarships eligible for funding, requires nonprofit scholarship-funding organizations to submit historical data to the conference, and mandates organizations maintain active participant levels consistent with official conference information. Effective date: July 1, 2025.