Florida Transportation Scholarship program aims to remove barriers, aid education choice

Jenifer Hernandez is every bit the school choice mom, though her two daughters attend Jacksonville public schools.

Her 7-year-old, Sienna Vira, goes to Seaside Charter Elementary, a school inspired by the Waldorf education tradition. Eleven-year-old Mariavictoria Vira attends LaVilla Middle School of the Arts, a Duval County Public Schools magnet, so she can focus on visual arts.

The schools are 18 miles and more than a half-hour apart, which requires time and gasoline. And with gas now going for more than $3 per gallon, that’s a lot of money.

Hernandez and her husband, Alberto Vira, were relieved to learn from other parents about the Florida Transportation Scholarship. The scholarship is part of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program, which lets parents who qualify choose between a scholarship that can be used on tuition and fees at a private school or $750 per student toward transportation to a public school other than the one they are assigned to attend.

Both scholarship programs are managed by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.

Hernandez decided to apply for the scholarship and was delighted when her daughters were awarded.

“My husband and I drive the girls to school when we can, but due to our work schedule, we also pay a friend to drive them to school,” she said. “The scholarship is definitely a great help.”

The scholarship assists the family not only by defraying travel costs; it also means Hernandez and her husband won’t have to pay for costly after-school care.

“Instead of using after care, we get to help a friend by paying her for the rides,” Hernandez said.

Transportation has been a nagging headache for years but recently became a colossal migraine for school districts as bus driver shortages have resulted in students arriving late to class and missing critical instruction time.

Some districts are boosting pay and offering bonuses as well as making major changes to school start times, a move that has drawn objections from parents and bus drivers alike. In Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker brought out the National Guard to get the behind the wheel.

But for those who seek education choice options as a means of finding the best learning environment for their kids, transportation always has been an obstacle, especially for families of modest means.

A research paper written in March 2020 by Michael McShane and Michael Shaw of the national nonprofit organization EdChoice called school transportation “inextricably linked” to school choice and said choice supporters ignore the issue at their peril. They called for policy changes to provide transportation funding.

“Leaving the means to get to a school of choice out of the equation risks creating choice in name only,” they wrote.

McShane, a reimaginED guest blogger, followed up with a post that described Florida as “a great example of the second generation of policy questions” for which an expanded vision of school choice asks and demands answers.

He wrote:

“Put yourself in the shoes of a parent who was just awarded a tax credit scholarship, or who just won a charter lottery to the school they have been hoping to send their child to for years. Think of the elation, the feeling that this is their lucky day. Their ship has finally come in. But then imagine that family realizing that transportation is not part of the deal. Their child can attend the school if they can get her there. But they can’t. How heartbreaking. It would be like running a marathon but twisting your ankle on the last mile.”

Arizona recently approved $20 million in state and federal money for a modernization grant program to provide seed funding for ideas that meaningfully improve access to reliable and safe transportation for district students who utilize open enrollment or who attend public charter schools. The funding also would support proposals focused on efficiency solutions and broader K-12 transportation innovations.

For the Viro-Hernandez family and other eligible Sunshine State families, the Florida Transportation Scholarship program represents first steps to address the issue locally. Since the 2017-18 school year, the program has grown each year, with more than 500 students participating so far this year compared with 212 just a year ago. Officials are still processing requests and expect this year’s total to rise even more.

“The scholarship is helping us save money in so many ways, but it is also a blessing to have,” Hernandez said. “It is giving us the opportunity to have the girls in amazing schools without worrying about transportation since we need to physically drop them off and pick them up from school. Everything is covered by the scholarship.”