FLORIDA LEGISLATURE PASSED THE BILL TO EXPAND THE SCHOLARSHIP

We applaud the great leadership in the Florida legislature for delivering school choice to an additional 6,000 qualifying students. Special thanks the Bill sponsors Representative Trey Traviesa and Senator Don Gaetz.

The Bill will:

• Increase the scholarship amount to 3,950 this fall and the scholarship can be used for tuition and school fees including registration. As per the new legislation, uniforms will not be covered by the scholarship unless it is a part of the school's fees and not just a requirement of the dress code.

• Increase the cap to 118M July 1, 2008

• Allow add-on siblings to qualify under same income guidelines as renewal children

• Allow children who were in foster care last year, or currently in foster care to be eligible for a CTC scholarship

• Allow SFO's that have been in operation at least three years to retain up to 3% for administrative expenses

• Requires an OPPAGA study to be completed by Dec 1, 2008 looking at fiscal impact of the program and methods to annually increasing tax credit funds

• Potential to include insurance premium tax, if the review shows a neutral or positive fiscal impact to the state.

• Add-on siblings will qualify under the same income guidelines as their renewing siblings- up to 200% of poverty.

• The legislation goes into effect July 1, 2008 and the scholarship increase goes into effect for the 2008-2009 school year.