SARASOTA, Fla. – Duct taped to the wall of Eliah Hillebrand’s bedroom, next to the light switch, is the engine from one of his remote-controlled cars. Attached to that is a small, arm-like device. Using the remote, the 11-year-old can turn the ceiling light on or off from his bed.

“Genius,” said Eliah’s mom, Jennifer. “I don’t know how he even thought to do that, but I definitely would credit Fab Lab.”

Fab Lab is the Suncoast Science Center/Faulhaber Fab Lab in Sarasota. It is a haven for students engrossed in all things STEAM.

If you are stimulated by science, tickled by technology, energized by engineering, mad for mathematics, or if art is your jam, you are among your people at Fab Lab.

A Florida education choice scholarship can help get you there.

The place has everything one needs to create nearly anything one can imagine.

“Any technical skill you can think of you can probably do it here,” Jenn Sams Scott, Fab Lab’s marketing and communications director, said.

There are screws, nuts, bolts, nails, and electrical wire.

There are saws, grinders, sanders, and routers. Laser cutters, 3D printers, and a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) mill that’s as big as the chassis of a small car.

Students from grades K-12 attend after-school and Saturday workshops during the school year, and camps during the summer.

They build remote-controlled cars and participate in “car wars.” The RC cars race around a course filled with obstacles. The last race had a dinosaur theme, which meant the cars had to dodge a moving dinosaur tail and a volcano spewing lava. The winning car earns a place of honor on a wall of fame.

They construct robots for the equally popular LEGO RoboRumble. There, robots force each other out of the ring. The winner is the last robot standing.

Hanging from the ceiling are rockets built by the members of the Rocketry Club, including one that soared 6,400 feet.

There are STEMinars for leather artistry, timber and blade, and steel ideas.

There’s a Gardenpalooza and a Halloween workshop where participants laser-etch designs on pumpkins. There’s also a workshop to laser-etch designs on pumpkin pies.

“There are a lot of interesting things happening there,” said Elisa Rothbloom, whose two sons use their Personal Education Program (PEP) scholarships to attend Fab Lab’s Lego Robotic camp. PEP, which is funded by corporate donations through the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program and managed by Step Up For Students, is available for K-12 students who aren’t enrolled full-time in a public or private school.

PEP scholarships can now be used for STEAM Saturday classes, and Sams Scott is hopeful RoboRumble will soon be available under the scholarship. Both programs are scheduled to begin in October.

Sams Scott said enrollment has increased since the advent of the PEP scholarship for the 2023-24 school year.

“It’s been crazy,” she said. “At least 10% of the participants are on PEP, and it’s growing.”

Eliah and his younger sister, Ellah, 8, are among the growing group of PEP students who use the scholarship to pay for Fab Lab’s camps and classes.

Together, Eliah and Ellah built a LEGO robot they named Chungus, after the Minecraft character. They finished third in the RoboRumble’s fourth-to-sixth-grade division.

“We keep things pretty simple—mostly pen and paper, very little online. Even so, they worked so hard and came in third place, competing alongside kids with much more technology experience,” Jennifer said. “It was amazing to see how they took what they knew, learned from Fab Lab, and really ran with it. I’m so proud of them.”

Fab Lab opens a new world for students like Eliah, who, according to his mom, “likes to tinker.”

“I like how they teach me how to invent things,” Eliah said.

Like a remote control to turn off his bedroom lights.

“I just wanted to invent something fun,” he said.

While the word “fun” is not in Fab Lab’s name, it could be.

“They don’t realize they’re learning because they’re having so much fun,” Sams Scott said while giving a visitor a tour of the building on a recent morning, while camps were in session.

She had to raise her voice to be heard over the steady whack, whack, whack coming from a classroom, where the second- and third graders attending the Little Builders camp were learning how to pound nails into a piece of wood.

The campers were supervised by high school students, who volunteer their time and share their knowledge. That’s a unique setup that parents enjoy. It seems their children are eager to work with the high schoolers, who they see as role models.

“It’s incredible that high school students are creating and leading these programs,” said Holly Atkins, whose son Ethan, 11, and daughter Ella, 8, receive the PEP scholarship and have attended Fab Lab for the past two years. “They really connect with the younger kids.”

At home, Holly said her children complete their core classes — reading, math, and writing.

“Then we look for activities that spark their curiosity, that light them up,” she said. “Fab Lab checks that box.”

Ella gravitates toward hands-on experiments, food science, and crafts, while Ethan is drawn to science and engineering. Recently, he joined a four-member team that designed, built, and raced a remote-controlled car. The project required collaboration from start to finish: choosing a theme, designing the car, creating a presentation board, and fielding questions from a panel of judges.

The team ultimately placed second in design.

“They had to practice communication, teamwork, and leadership skills,” Holly said. “Ethan was learning all of that and having a blast at the same time.”

Sams Scott said one reason why Fab Lab is so popular is that it’s not a school.

Fab Lab is a learning center where students don’t have to worry about grades. Trial and error are great teachers. What might not have worked on one project might be just what’s needed for another.

There is success in every room, at every workstation.

A big win for some students came the day a local automation company visited Fab Lab with a robotic arm used in the assembly process. The students programmed it to hold a squeegee and clean a window. They were told that if they wanted to use the robot for its intended purpose, they would need to learn a certain computer-aided design (CAD) program.

“They have,” Sams Scott said. “It’s a program they learned here that they use here.”

John E. Coons was ahead of his time.  

Decades before the term “education savings account” became an integral part of the education choice movement, the law professor at the

University of California, Berkeley, and his former student, Stephen Sugarman, were talking about the concept. In their 1978 book, “Education by Choice: The Case for Family Control,” the two civil rights icons envisioned a model drastically different from the traditional one-size-fits-all, ZIP code-based school system inspired by the industrial revolution: 

“To us, a more attractive idea is matching up a child and a series of individual instructors who operate independently from one another. Studying reading in the morning at Ms. Kay’s house, spending two afternoons a week learning a foreign language in Mr. Buxbaum’s electronic laboratory, and going on nature walks and playing tennis the other afternoons under the direction of Mr. Phillips could be a rich package for a ten-year-old. Aside from the educational broker or clearing house which, for a small fee (payable out of the grant to the family), would link these teachers and children, Kay, Buxbaum, and Phillips need have no organizational ties with one another. Nor would all children studying with Kay need to spend time with Buxbaum and Phillips; instead, some would do math with Mr. Feller or animal care with Mr. Vetter.” 

Coons and Sugarman also predicted charter schools, microschools, learning pods and education navigators, although they called them by different names. 

Fast forward to Florida today, where the Personalized Education Program, or PEP, allows parents to direct education savings accounts of about $8,000 per student to customize their children’s learning. Parents can use the funds for part-time public or private school tuition, curriculum, a la carte providers, and other approved educational expenses. PEP, which the legislature passed in 2023 as part of House Bill 1, is the state’s second education savings account program; the first was the Gardiner Scholarship, now called the Florida Family Empowerment Scholarship for students with Unique Abilities, which was passed in 2014. 

Coons, who turned 96 on Aug. 23, has been a regular contributor to Step Up For Students' policy blogs over the years. Shortly after the release of his 2021 book, “School Choice and Human Good,” he was featured in a podcastED interview hosted by Doug Tuthill, chief vision officer and past president of Step Up For Students. 

“It is wrong to fight against (choice) on the grounds that it is a right-wing conspiracy,” said Coons, a lifelong Catholic whom some education observers describe as “voucher left.”  “It’s a conspiracy to help ordinary poor people to live their lives with respect.” 

In 2018, Coons marked the 40th anniversary of “Education by Choice” by reflecting on it and his other writings for NextSteps blog. 

 He said he hopes his work will “broaden the conversation” about the nature and meaning of the authority of all parents to direct their children’s education, regardless of income. 

“Steve (Sugarman) and I recognized all parents – not just the rich – as manifestly the most humane and efficient locus of power,” he wrote. “The state has long chosen to respect that reality for those who can afford to choose for their child. ‘Education by Choice’ provided practical models for recognizing that hallowed principle in practice for the education of all children. It has, I think, been a useful instrument for widening and informing the audience and the gladiators in the coming seasons of political combat.”

Arizonans have a pet peeve involving people from “back East” who judge us before they understand us. The Washington Post jumped into this with both feet by publishing a story with the headline Public schools are closing as Arizona’s school voucher program soars.

The story, which prominently features the long-troubled Roosevelt Elementary School District’s decision to close five schools, has multiple problems. The paragraphs below will document one of the main problems. Before moving to that, the reader should note that multiple people made efforts by both email and phone to alert the Post reporter to these data during the research process, including the sharing of many of the links to the same state data sources that will be used below.

Arizona K-12 choice is complex with multiple types of choice operating simultaneously and interacting with each other: the nation’s largest state charter school sector, multiple private choice programs, and (the granddaddy of them all) district open enrollment. No one should fault anyone for failing to appreciate the complexity of a situation from afar, but ignoring data to formulate a fundamentally misleading narrative is another matter.

Just to set the stage, under the Arizona education formula, spending follows the child. From the perspective of a school district, it makes little financial difference as to whether a child transfers to another district, enrolls in a charter, takes an ESA, or moves to California -- you either have enrollment to get funded, or you do not. Because districts also generate local funding with enrollment, they are (by a wide margin) the best-funded K-12 system in the state on a per-pupil basis on average.

The Arizona Department of Education tracks public school students by district of residence and by public district or charter school of attendance. The 2025 report includes a tab called “District by Attendance,” and it reveals that of the total public-school students residing with the boundary of Roosevelt Elementary and attending a Roosevelt Elementary district school amounts to 6,551 students. The same report reveals that 5,764 students live within the boundaries of Roosevelt but attend charter schools. Finally, the open enrollment report documents that 2,741 students live within the boundaries of Roosevelt but attend other district schools through open enrollment.

Separate reports from the Arizona Department of Education document ESA use by school district. The most recent quarterly report currently available finds that 803 students reside within the borders of Roosevelt Elementary and are enrolled in the ESA program (see page 22). If we stopped the story there, the conclusion that the fiscal impact on Roosevelt Elementary from other school districts was more than three times larger than that of the ESA program would appear unavoidable. “Public schools are closing as a majority of families choose other public schools” does not seem quite as exciting but would be far more accurate.

But we should not stop the story there. Another report from the Arizona Department of Education tracks not only which districts ESA students reside in, but also what school they previously attended. Page 17 of this report reveals that the number of students residing in Roosevelt Elementary district and which previously attended a Roosevelt Elementary school stood at 129. Put it all together, and the picture looks like this:

School boards don’t close five schools in a 6,551-student district because of the loss of 129 students. Enrollment in Roosevelt Elementary began to decline years before the ESA program existed. “Public schools are closing as Arizona voucher enrollment soars” is akin to “Sun rises as rooster crows” as it pertains to Roosevelt Elementary. If the ESA program did not exist, we have every reason to believe that a large majority of ESA students would employ other choice programs.

The fault lies not in Roosevelt’s stars, but in itself -- a large majority of the community it serves prefers schools other than the ones they are operating. Statewide Arizona school districts spend an estimated billion dollars annually on underutilized and vacant school buildings -- funds they could be spending on teacher salaries and academic recovery, and which also happens to approximately equal the budget of the ESA program, which 90,000 Arizona students use for K-12 education.

The Roosevelt school board has decided to focus their efforts, and good luck to them. The unstated thesis of the Washington Post’s narrative, however, is that readers should sympathize with the interests of Roosevelt employees rather than with those of the Roosevelt families exercising agency in the education of their children. This is the greatest misdirection of all. We fund schools first for the benefit of children, not the adults working in the schools.

This is all an all-too-common sort of thing in K-12 journalism these days, and it is hardly unique to Arizona. Florida, for example, has no shortage of hugely exaggerated claims regarding the impact of choice on school districts. Author Amanda Ripley, interviewed for a book she wrote on deep problems of journalism, noted the “strange and insular world of journalism prizes,” which encourage simplistic “us versus them” stories. “This adversarial model that we’ve got going in education, journalism, and politics no longer serves us. There’s a good guy and a bad guy, and everything’s super clear; it just breaks down. And we keep awarding prizes in that model. But 99 percent of stories are not that clear-cut,” Ripley noted.

What is clear-cut: Roosevelt Elementary may have 99 problems, but losing 129 kids to the ESA program ranks far from being one.

 

Florida gives parents the ability to direct the education of their children. Today about half of all K-12 students in the state attend a school of choice, and 500,000 students participate in state educational choice scholarship programs.  

Gov. Ron DeSantis accelerated these trends in 2023, when he signed HB 1 and made every student eligible for a scholarship. No school can take any student for granted, and state funding follows students to the learning options they choose.  

Unfortunately, misleading claims amplified in the media have blamed this expansion of parental choice for school districts’ budget challenges. 

Sarasota County Schools, for example, recently estimated that scholarships “siphoned” $45 million from its budget, a figure cited in a WUSF article. In reality, most of the $45 million represents funding for students that Sarasota was never responsible for educating, such as those already in private schools, homeschooling or charter schools.  It also does not account for students who return to district schools after using a scholarship. Once those factors are considered, the actual impact is considerably smaller than the headline number suggests. 

For the 2024-25 school year, Sarasota County lost just 330 public school students to scholarship programs, but only 245 of those students came from district-run public schools. If those students had stayed, they would have brought the district about $2 million, not $45 million. That figure still does not account for the students who returned to district schools after using a scholarship the prior year, so the real impact would be smaller. 

Other districts have been vocal about their budget difficulties, often attributing them solely to growing scholarship demand, such as Leon County Public Schools, which in 2024-25 lost 240 students from district-run schools (0.8% of enrollment), and Duval County Public Schools, which lost 1,237 students (1.2% of enrollment). 

Statewide, 32,284 students left public schools in 2024-25 to use a scholarship. That is only 1.1% of all public-school students in Florida, and even that total includes those who previously attended charter schools, university-affiliated lab schools, virtual schools, and other public-school options. 

Looking at district-run schools alone, just 24,874 new scholarship students left for scholarship programs in 2024-25. Another 5,507 came from charters, and 1,897 came from virtual schools. In fact, as a percentage of their total enrollment, charter schools lost more students to scholarship programs (1.4%) than district-run schools did (1%). 

This means that the expanded scholarship program may be having a bigger impact on charter schools than districts. Charter schools, however, haven’t been as vocal about vouchers, and that is likely because charters continue to grow enrollment while district schools have started to shrink.  

Enrollment declines in some districts have been real, even if the blame on scholarships is misplaced.  

Declining enrollment is being driven by parent preferences – but also by shifting demographics and the ebb of the post-Covid population boom. Florida is one of the few states where overall K-12 population is expected to continue growing, but the growth will be uneven, and every school will have to compete for students. 

Even as they face intense competition and demographic headwinds, Florida’s charter schools have kept growing. Some innovative district leaders have signaled a willingness to hear the demand signals from parents and create new solutions to meet their needs. 

Understanding what parents seek in private and charter schools, and how new public-school models can better meet those demands, would be a good place for districts to start. 

Pre-K and Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) have also been major feeders for Florida’s scholarship programs. In 2024-25, 53,825 new scholarship students came from pre-K — somewhere between one-third and nearly half of all VPK students statewide.  

Public schools have limited Pre-K offerings. Statewide, there are less than one-third as many Pre-K students as kindergartners enrolled in public schools. Private schools, by contrast, have used it as a key pipeline to recruit future students. 

Districts have other avenues to respond to changing parent demands. Since 2014, when the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA) was introduced as the Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts, districts have been allowed to offer classes and services to scholarship students.  

The passage of HB1 in 2023 transformed every state scholarship into an education savings account.  K-12 families now have more flexibility to use scholarships for “a la carte learning,” in which they pick and choose from a variety of educational options. By offering part-time instruction, tutoring, therapy, and other services, districts can win back students and the associated funding.  So far, 21 of Florida’s 67 districts have taken advantage of this opportunity, with 10 more in the pipeline. 

Florida’s enrollment shifts are real, but data shows the “voucher drain” narrative overstates the impact. The real challenge for districts is not money being “siphoned;” it is families choosing other options. Districts that adapt and compete for students will keep both enrollment and funding – leaving students, families and taxpayers better off.  

Nothing can stop Denise Lever. Not a raging wildfire and certainly not a state fire marshal’s effort to shut down her tutoring center by trying to impose regulations that could have forced her to spend $70,000 on building upgrades.

As one of the nation’s few female wildland firefighters in the late 1980s, Lever survived the hazing that came with being a woman in a male-dominated profession by proving herself and never backing down.

For example, take this story: Lever’s team had been dispatched to a California fire. Roads were closed, and the crew had to climb up a cliff to get into position. Loaded down with their gear, they pulled together and worked through the night.

“It was absolutely brutal,” Lever recalled. “It was hot. It was windy. Our hands were cut up from moving brush, and we lost gloves in the middle of the night, and we couldn’t find them on the fire line because of the debris.

As morning broke and a cold Pacific Ocean breeze stung their faces, the team huddled together in space blankets and reflected on their victory.

“The camaraderie and the sense of accomplishment, they’re irreplaceable,” Lever said.

Lever’s days of battling blazes ended when she got married and became a homeschool mom to three kids, but her trailblazing spirit stayed with her when she became an education entrepreneur.

In 2020, she opened Baker Creek Academy, a tutoring center/microschool to support homeschool families in Eagar, Arizona, just west of the New Mexico state line. The center operates four days a week for five hours per day and serves about 50 students, who attend on different days at various times. Baker Creek provides a host of supplemental services, primarily to homeschooled students, from one-on-one tutoring to limited classroom instruction and group projects to field trips. Students and parents can customize the services that best fit their needs. Baker Creek doesn’t keep attendance records because, Lever said, parents are the ones in charge.

After completing her city’s approval process, Baker Creek began operating in a historic commercial building once occupied by a church, shared with three other independent microschools.

One day, out of the blue, an official at the Arizona Office of the State Fire Marshal left Lever a voice mail message. He wanted to inspect her “school.”

“And I said, ‘No, not really, because we're not a school,’” she said.

As an experienced firefighter, Lever recognized a school designation for what it was: the potential kiss of death for her tutoring center.

Being labeled a school triggers a list of code restrictions intended for campuses that serve hundreds or sometimes thousands of students and often include sports fields, playgrounds, auditoriums, cafeterias, gymnasiums, classrooms, and offices.

On the line are often tens of thousands of dollars in mandated building changes, which are not required for other commercial buildings, such as dance studios and karate dojos.

Levers wasted no time. She contacted the Stand Together Edupreneur Resource Center, which offers guidance, but not legal advice, about regulatory issues. The representative encouraged Lever to contact the Institute for Justice, a national public interest law firm that specializes in education choice litigation and zoning issues.

IJ Senior Attorney Erica Smith Ewing sent a letter to the state’s fire inspector questioning the basis for the inspection.

“Ms. Lever successfully completed a local fire safety inspection in 2023 and has been operating successfully with no problems,” the letter said. “Your request to inspect her property was unexpected. Could you please explain why you wish to inspect her property? We do not currently represent Ms. Lever, and we hope that formal representation will be unnecessary.”

Lever said she faced the possibility of having to spend tens of thousands of dollars upgrading doors and electrical systems. Because the building was smaller than 10,000 square feet, she avoided the order to install a sprinkler system, which can cost $100,000.

However, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

“If the state was going to require some of these upgrades, that was just not going to be possible for (our landlord) to renew our lease,” she said, adding that she used the building to host summer programs and annual meetings for other microschool leaders who use her consulting services.

Lever also wondered why similar businesses weren’t targeted -- for example, a dance studio across the street that taught school-age students and operated similar hours to Baker Creek.

“Because she offered dance instead of math tutoring, her program was considered a trade, and our program was going to be shut down and treated like an education facility simply because we offered more of an academic program,” Lever said.

State officials performed the inspection, but finally backed down, offering only that the situation was a result of “confusion” and the Lever’s business wasn’t under their jurisdiction.

“Forcing Denise to follow regulations designed for sprawling, traditional schools would be both arbitrary and unconstitutional,” Ewing said. “More and more, we are seeing state and local governments hampering small, innovative microschools by forcing them into fire, zoning, and building regulations that never anticipated microschools and that make no sense being applied to what microschools do.”

In Georgia, local officials tried to force a microschool to comply with unnecessary inspections and building upgrades, in violation of state law protecting microschools. They backed down after a letter from IJ. And in Sarasota, Florida, Alison Rini, founder of Star Lab, nearly closed her doors this spring when the city interpreted the fire code to require she install a $100,000 fire sprinkler system, despite operating from a one-room building with multiple exits. Only after a donor provided a generous gift was she able to stay open.

“Teachers shouldn’t need lawyers to teach,” said IJ Attorney Mike Greenberg. “Bureaucrats shouldn’t use outdated and ill-fitting regulations to stifle parents and students from choosing the innovative education options that best suit their needs.”

Lever said the state’s decision to back off sets a precedent that will help other microschools across Arizona.

“I was definitely willing to go forth with the lawsuit,” she said. “At this point, though, we’re going to take our win. We’re going to publicize it so the other microschools will know what their options are.”

TAMPA, Fla. – It was July 2024, and Jack Canterbury celebrated a birthday. His 14^th. That led to a question he had been waiting a while to ask his mother.

“Can I get a job?”

Maria Canterbury had promised her son he could start working when he reached that age, and Jack had some employment opportunities in mind. Making subs at a sandwich shop. Busing tables at a restaurant. Playing in the NBA, but he knew he was too young for that.

Well …, said Maria.

Jack, who has Down syndrome, was about to enter the seventh grade at Morning Star School. He attended the K-8 Catholic school in Tampa for students with learning disabilities on a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA), managed by Step Up For Students.

Morning Star does not have a cafeteria, so the only food available to students and staff during the day is whatever they bring for lunch.

After some thought, mom and son had what Maria described as a “bright idea.”

How about a vending machine at the school that sells healthy snacks and drinks? They have a close family friend who is in the vending machine business. Surely, he could help them out.

“Jack loved it,” Maria said.

But would anyone else? Would Morning Star Principal Eileen Odom go for the idea? Would parents, ever mindful of what their children eat, allow them to buy a snack out of a machine?

The answer to both questions was a resounding yes.

Odom knew of an empty space in a mid-campus hallway that was just the right size for a vending machine. Her maintenance staff agreed, saying they would do whatever it took to make it work.

“The spot couldn’t have been more perfect,” Maria said. “It was just waiting for a vending machine. It was meant to be.”

The family friend gave them a deal on a used vending machine, and SNacks by jACK 321 opened for business early in the 2024-25 school year.

“It’s been a nice treat for our students,” Odom said. “We started small, because we didn’t know how parents would react to snacks at school, but it just took off.”

Maria said the whole family came up with the name of Jack’s business – She and her husband Jason, Jack and his sister, Kate.

The capital letters spell “snack,” and 321 is for Trisomy 21, which is the medical term for Down syndrome. Also, March 21 (3/21) is World Down Syndrome Day.

SNacks by jACK 321 is stocked with Funyuns and Sun Chips. Skinny Pop and Barnum’s Animal Crackers. Gatorade, iced tea, sparkling water, and lemonade. And Diet Coke, but that’s only for the teachers.

The snacks and drinks cost between 50 cents and $1.25, and customers can pay with coins, credit cards, and Apple Pay. Jack donated 10% of the proceeds to Morning Star.

Jack is learning about running a business one box of animal crackers at a time. He has to track inventory and handle money. On weekends, he and his parents head to Sam’s Club for supplies. Jack and Maria restock the machine at least once a week.

“I think this is an amazing thing for Jack,” Odom said. “He has a real entrepreneurial spirit.”

Vanessa Florance, who taught Jack last year at Morning Star, said Jack’s side hustle turned into a learning experience for his schoolmates. She watched students learn to count change before making a selection and learn which number on the number pad corresponds with which snack. There was also a writing pad on the wall opposite the machine where students could leave suggestions for additional snacks, which they did.

“It was all these little lessons for everybody,” Florance said.

Jack said his first year as an entrepreneur was fun.

“And I like spending time with my mother,” he added.

Jack is one of the more personable students at the school. Also, one with deep faith. He carries a copy of the Ten Commandments in the small satchel he wears at all times, and while not Catholic, he participates in school-wide mass and is very inquisitive about the Bible verses he learned in religion class.

“He always made sure to greet me in the hallway, saying ‘Good morning,’ or ‘Good afternoon,’” said Morning Star teacher Jennifer Almedia. “And if I didn’t see him for some reason, he would make it a point to come and find me and make sure I saw him. He never misses an opportunity to greet his teachers.”

Maria and Jason have not treated Jack differently because he has Down syndrome. He’s expected to do his share of chores around the house and is allowed to dream as big as he wants. One of Jack’s dreams is to be an NBA superstar.

“We anticipate him going through high school, going to college of his choice, with specific programs,” Maria said.

They have already looked into ClemsonLIFE, a program at Clemson University for students with intellectual disabilities.

“He knows expectations are for him to further his education outside of high school,” Maria said. “Now, if you ask him, he wants to drive, join the military, get married, and have kids. Not sure he'll be able to do all of those things in that order, but that's what he envisions himself doing, and we don't tell him any differently.”

One thing Jack won’t do, though, is graduate from Morning Star, the school he attended in the sixth and seventh grades.

Because the school only goes through grade eight, Maria and Jason would have to look for a high school that can accommodate Jack’s needs. In the spring, they entered a lottery for a charter school near their Wesley Chapel home, and, to their surprise, Jack was accepted. The school is grades 3-12 and has a post-high school transition program.

“We absolutely love Morning Star,” Maria said. “We wish they went through high school, but unfortunately, they do not at this moment in time.”

Jack will remain on the FES-UA scholarship, using the education savings account to pay for his therapies.

While Jack will no longer attend Morning Star, his vending machine will remain. Jack and his mom will stop by every week to check the inventory, keep it stocked, and check the notepad for any suggestions.

“Jack’s not technically leaving,” Odom said.

“SNacks by jACK lives on.”

 

Recently, someone representing a state official responded to an Arizona media outlet inquiry about the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program and referred to “tutoring and babysitting.” Consequently, Arizona’s school district industrial lobbying complex went predictably bananas, even though babysitting is not now, nor ever has been an allowable expense under the program. Even though the official has since clarified their statement to note that babysitting is not an allowable expense. Blah blah blah no age requirements for tutoring yadda yadda yadda (move on to the next manufactured outrage).

This is all to do about nothing, but it is worthwhile to pause a moment to note that tutoring centers with strong reputations do routinely hire high school students for tutoring positions. I am aware of this because two of my children tutored math as high school students, and one became an assistant center director as a high school student. The companies establish the mathematical abilities of tutors before hiring them by testing them and then give them established protocols to follow. If they prove ineffective, they lose customers. A great many Arizona high school students are not only completely capable of math tutoring, but I am also willing to wager that neither me nor m(any) of Arizona’s journalism community would fare well against them in a mathematics contest.

Now…about this babysitting business. The Arizona school district industrial lobbying complex and their oh-so-willing media dupes grousing about “babysitting” is too rich for words.

In the 2024 NAEP, 49% of Arizona fourth grade students attending district schools scored “below basic” in reading. I’m not sure what those students were doing over the past five years, but it did not seem to involve much, well, learning. If we break out Arizona district scores apart from the students attending charter schools, eighth grade reading looked like this in 2024:

Usual caveats apply (sampling, raw scores imperfect proxy for school quality etc.) but —cough — if anyone is engaged in babysitting, you don’t want to go searching for it in tutoring centers: Arizona school district reading scores seem to indicate that they have jumped into babysitting with both feet.

Speaking of tutoring math, NAEP also tests math. Perhaps things won’t look so bad for Arizona school districts if we examine the math scores. Or then again, maybe not:

So, there is a brisk trade in tutoring in Arizona, and we are in no position to turn up our noses at bright and capable high school tutors for younger students. As for babysitting, it seems to be in mass production in Arizona’s district schools.

 

TAMPA, Fla. — When you think of homeschooling, what comes to mind? For many families, it’s a journey filled with creativity, flexibility, and personalized learning. Whether you're following a traditional curriculum, taking a hybrid approach, or crafting your own adventure with a Florida K-12 education savings account, parent-directed learning allows families to find the best fit for their children’s needs.

But no matter the style, every family needs support and reliable resources. That’s where The Homeschool Hive comes in. It’s more than just a store. It’s a community that helps families build confidence and find the tools they need to thrive.

A store with a heartbeat

The Homeschool Hive was founded by Kimberlee Tucker, a former classroom teacher and homeschool parent. Her journey began out of necessity. Years ago, Tucker was searching for the right materials and support to educate her daughter, who has unique learning needs. What she discovered was a gap in resources and understanding, especially for parents opting out of a traditional school system.

So, she created what she couldn’t find. Today, parents who visit The Homeschool Hive find a warm, welcoming place that offers curriculum, advice, enrichment tools, and a judgment-free space for families to learn and grow.

“Kimberlee Tucker truly understands how to find the right curriculum for each individual student,” said Lisa Mezzei, who has relied on Tucker, a certified educator, for the past 10 years to conduct annual evaluations for her son, Matthew. “The process has given Matthew a real sense of ownership in his education.”

A store that's truly for everyone

Step inside The Homeschool Hive and you’ll find a thoughtfully curated selection of materials for every subject and learning style. There are full curriculum kits, hands-on science activities, history unit studies, sensory-friendly items, reading support tools, and even educational games and fidgets.

Whether a child is a budding scientist, a reluctant reader, or needs a more tactile learning approach, the Hive has something for everyone. Parents say the best part is personalized support. Tucker and her team listen, guide, and recommend based on each family's needs.

“The Homeschool Hive is such a low pressure, welcoming place,” parent Anissa Stern said. You can visit several times to explore what works best for your child, and the staff, many of whom have children with unique abilities, are incredibly helpful. It’s a fantastic resource for any homeschooling family.”

Kelli Alexander agreed.

“The Homeschool Hive has truly guided our homeschooling journey. It is one of my children’s favorite places to go. Everything is educational, fun, and engaging. I have found so many helpful supplements and resources that reinforce what they have already learned, and I even do their yearly testing through the store.”

Alexander recommends families visit twice, once with their kids, so they can explore and find materials that excite them, and again solo to get one-on-one advice from the staff. “It really makes a difference,” she added

 

Alexander's children especially love the extras they’ve found there, including books, games, and fidgets that make learning more enjoyable. They also look forward to the store’s community events, like the Christmas party, where her kids enjoy volunteering and connecting with other homeschool families.

From frustration to inspiration

Many parents come to The Homeschool Hive unsure of where to begin. It can feel overwhelming trying to choose the right curriculum or learning tools, especially if you’re new to homeschooling or supporting a child with special learning needs. But what sets the Hive apart is its heart.

Tucker and her team meet families where they are. They provide encouragement, advice, and solutions that are realistic and effective. Parents leave feeling seen, heard, and empowered to take the next step in their child’s education.

Tucker’s daughter, the inspiration behind it all, has since graduated from high school and is now engaged to be married. That journey of learning and growth is something Tucker says she wants for every family that walks through her doors.

A store that goes beyond the basics

Tucker doesn’t just stock big brands. She travels to toy and education conferences across the country, sourcing creative and engaging tools from family-owned and independent companies. These unique items aren’t just educational; they’re fun, hands-on, and often perfect for gifts or seasonal enrichment.

For those not local to Florida, The Homeschool Hive ships nationwide and has become a go-to resource for families across the country. Families don’t have to be on a Florida education choice scholarship to purchase from the store. Everyone’s welcome. With growing demand, Tucker is considering opening a second location soon. She recently expanded the staff to include Bernadette Bee.
"She is my new shop dog," Tucker said. "She is therapy trained and training to be a service dog for me."

 

 Perfectly timed for the educational shift

As school choice continues to expand in Florida and across the country, families are exploring new ways to educate their children. The Homeschool Hive is perfectly positioned to support that shift. Whether you're a brand new homeschool or scholarship parent or several years into the journey, this is the place where guidance, resources, and inspiration come together.

“If you are just starting your homeschooling journey, you have to visit the Homeschool Hive first," parent Lisa Mezzei said. "It is the perfect place to get support, explore options, and find what really works for your child.”

 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – David Prewitt was worried.

His wife, Karen, wasn’t.

“He can do it,” she said.

Their son Caleb, 13 at the time, was participating in his first open-water swim, something he needed to conquer if he was going to complete his first triathlon.

One thing you need to know about Caleb: He has Down syndrome.

Another thing you need to know about Caleb: It has never held him back.

“When we came home (from the hospital) with Caleb, we said he’s not going to be your typical young man with Down syndrome. We’re going to push him, and so we've always tried to raise him as a typical child,” Karen said.

That meant chores around the house, being active in sports, attending school, and making friends inside and outside of the Down syndrome community.

“We kind of upped the ante when we got into sports,” Karen said.

She coaxed Caleb into running a 5K on Thanksgiving of 2020 by using the Couch to 5K app that gradually built up his endurance. Now, Caleb was training for a triathlon – a 300-meter open-water swim, a 12-mile bike ride, and a 5K race.

He had learned to ride a bike. He had swum in a pool plenty of times. But what concerned David was that Caleb, with assistance from a volunteer partner, was now swimming in a lake to see if he had the strength and stamina to finish that leg of the race.

Turns out, he did.

“He comes out of that water, and he's just laughing,” David said. “And I thought to myself, ‘You’ve got to change your attitude,’ because this kid can do things.”

***

Caleb is now 18. He has completed 119 races in the past five years. Included are 44 triathlons of various distances, five half-marathons, and two Spartan Races.

The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes Caleb, 16 at the time, as the youngest person with II2 (Intellectual Impairment, including those with Down syndrome) to run a half marathon (13.1 miles). Caleb’s goal is to add his name to that book again in October by becoming the youngest person with II2 to run a marathon (26.2 miles) when he and his mom run the Chicago Marathon.

Stephen Wright was Caleb’s partner during the early part of Caleb’s running career. He’s amazed at all Caleb has accomplished.

“I don't think people realize, most 14- 15-, 16-year-old kids aren't doing that,” he said. “So not only does he have things he's trying to overcome and prove he can do things, but most kids his age aren't doing the things he's doing. It’s incredible, because I wasn't doing that stuff at his age.”

***

Deb Rains is the assistant head of school at the North Florida School of Special Education (NFSSE) in Jacksonville, where Caleb attends on a Unique Abilities Scholarship managed by Step Up For Students.

Rains called Caleb the school’s “Mr. Mayor.”

“He’s so outgoing,” she said. “He’s friends with everybody.”

Rains said Caleb’s always-in-a-good-mood personality and can-do spirit come from the support he receives from Karen and David. More than a decade later, she vividly recalls her first meeting with them when they visited NFSSE to see about enrolling Caleb.

“I will never forget this. They came in and they had his mission statement,” Rains said.

It read:

• Caleb will have friends.
• He will be a productive member of society.
• He will have a relationship with his savior.

“We built everything around that,” Karen said.

It is important to the Prewitts that Caleb has friends outside of school because, as is often the case when students graduate, friends from school scatter to live their own lives.

Caleb has friends from school. Luke, a classmate, is his best buddy. But Caleb has friends outside of school, too. He belongs to four running clubs. He has friends from Planet Fitness, where he works out, and friends from Happy Brew, a Jacksonville coffee house that sells Caleb’s homemade cookies. (More on that shortly.)

They want Caleb to have a job and be self-sufficient. He graduated in May from NFSSE and will enter the school’s transition program, where he will learn employment skills.

“We're very thankful for that,” David said. “He's got a lot of things that he can look forward to, because he's pretty well known in the community.”

Caleb is eager to hit the job market. He’d like to work at Happy Brew, Planet Fitness, or Publix. David, now retired, worked as a store manager for Publix. Caleb’s sister, Courtney Tyler, works in a Publix bakery.

He’s getting a jump this summer on a possible job at Happy Brew by attending NFSSE’s barista camp.

“As an organization, you have a mission statement and a vision statement, but to take that and place that intentionality on their son's life just showed me that they were not limiting him because of his disability,” Rains said.

“I was very impressed by that. There was a statement to not just me, the school, but to the community, that they expected nothing less from their son than they would their daughter, who's neurotypical.

“That just created the path for him. Since they didn't put any boundaries or limitations on Caleb, there was none for him to be impacted by.”

***

The mood surrounding a child born with Down syndrome isn’t positive, David said. Parents are informed of all the things their child won’t be able to do – ride a bike, run, swim, get a job.

“We were on a mission to prove them all wrong,” Karen said.

Along the way, Caleb has become a role model for the Down syndrome community. He has advocated at the state capital in Tallahassee for the expansion of what is now the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, which he receives. Karen has written newspaper op-ed columns and spoken to legislative committees in Tallahassee in support of the scholarship.

“If we didn’t have the scholarship, we would have had a tougher journey,” she said.

Caleb has more than 26,000 followers on Facebook and more than 44,000 followers on Instagram. Karen said parents comment on the posts, saying they have more confidence in their child’s abilities after seeing what Caleb has achieved.

Caleb has appeared on NBC’s “Today” show during a segment featuring children with unique abilities who cook or bake. Caleb bakes. Currently, he’s baking the cookies sold at Happy Brew.

It started during the COVID-19 pandemic when Caleb began helping his dad in the kitchen. That led to their cooking show, “Fridays at Four,” that were posted to Facebook. They were hugely popular.

Now, Caleb bakes 20 dozen chocolate chip and sugar cookies a month and delivers them to Happy Brew. The sugar cookies are a hit.

“We can’t keep them on the shelf,” owner Amy Franks said.

Caleb’s “Mr. Mayor” personality is in full force when he visits the coffee shop, Franks said.

“He'll walk in, he'll immediately step behind the counter and start making a smoothie, or he'll hop on the point of sale, like he owns the place, and we just let him do his thing, like go for it,” Franks said. “His work ethic is incredible. He never stops.”

Caleb often wears a T-shirt bearing the slogan, “No Limits.” He wrote that on top of his mortarboard at graduation.

Running, cooking, working out at the gym, Caleb has yet to encounter a limit.

And he does it all with a smile.

“The joy inside of him is so meaningful for us,” Franks said.

***

In 2021, Stephen Wright volunteered to be a partner for a special needs athlete and was paired with Caleb for a triathlon in Sebring.

He remembers how excited Caleb was before the race, and how concerned he was about how Caleb would react to the competition, the crowd, the long swim, which is the first leg.

“There was one point (during the swim) where I turned around and he wasn't there, and I started panicking,” Wright said. “He was actually underwater, trying to tickle my feet. And I was like, ‘All right, man, I can see how the rest of this day is going to go.’ We got out of the water, and everyone cheered for him.”

The two were dead last when they transitioned from the bike ride to the run. At one point, Wright couldn’t see any other runners. He wondered if the race was over.

 

What he didn’t know was that at the finish line, the race director was rounding up the younger runners who were waiting for the awards presentation and told them to go to the finish line and cheer on this young man who was running his first triathlon.

 

“We turned the corner, and it was like something out of a movie,” Wright said. “They had two police squad cars waiting, and they flipped their lights on and the sirens, and we ran down the street. It was lined with people. There had to be 100 people at the finish line, and it was one of the coolest things to be a part of.”

David and Karen were among those waiting for Caleb.

“That finish line,” Karen said, “was one of the best experiences of my life.”

 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the latest court ruling granting an injunction to block the release of funds to families while the lawsuit is pending.

Travis and Nikki Leck were thrilled to find a private school that challenged their sons academically and were looking forward to using a newly expanded Wyoming education choice scholarship to help pay for it. Now, a judge's ruling has left them and thousands of other families in limbo as the new school year approaches.

 “We would have never considered a private school. It just isn't something most people in this part of the world do,” said Travis, a petroleum engineer who grew up in Montana.

When the time came, the two public school graduates looked for a public school best suited to the needs of their oldest sons, Mason and Tanner. They found a gem: Fort Caspar Academy, a classical public school focused on high academic standards, high time on task, high expectations for behavior, strong parental involvement, logical thinking, and character development.

The school offered evidence-based reading instruction that included phonics, and math instruction grounded in a solid foundation of math facts, everything the Lecks expected.

Then came third grade. The family had the opportunity to move back to Cody, where they had lived off and on over the years. It's the gateway to Yellowstone National Park. Named after its founder, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, it boasts a population of 10,305. The 2025 graduating class at Cody High School totaled 145.

Cody has one McDonald’s, one grocery store, and a Walmart. Elementary school options were about as limited as the retail offerings. Cody had five public elementary school options, two more than 20 miles out of town, compared with Casper’s 20. The Lecks tried the Cody public school for the twins and their youngest son, Carter, who had started kindergarten.

After a year and 11 days into the next school year, the Lecks realized that they preferred the classical approach to teaching and learning.

“I never thought we would be at a private school, especially in Wyoming. However, being pro-classical education, especially in Cody, definitely makes me pro-school choice. We have exactly one chance to get our kids’ educational foundation right, and it matters.”

The Lecks decided to look elsewhere for the rigor they wanted for their kids, advanced math learners who are now 12 and 9. They found it at Veritas Academy, a private classical school that used the same standards, curricula, and methods as Fort Caspar Academy. Tuition for the upcoming year will be $8,000 per student.

So, they pulled back on discretionary spending to make Veritas Academy possible. Nikki also returned to her job in marketing full time.

In March, the family got hope for financial relief when the Wyoming Legislature passed the Wyoming Steamboat Legacy Scholarship Act. The education savings account program offers families $7,000 annually for income-eligible students in pre-kindergarten, with universal eligibility for students in K-12. Parents can direct the funds for tuition, tutoring, and other approved educational expenses.

The Lecks were among more than 4,000 families approved for scholarships.

Two weeks before the state was set to begin distributing funds, the Wyoming Education Association and nine parents sued the state to halt the program, arguing that it is precluded by the state’s constitutional commitment to district schools and that it violates a constitutional ban on appropriations to private entities, even though money is appropriated only to the state Department of Education and administered by the state superintendent of public instruction, according to the legislation. The state’s attorney, Mackenzie Williams of the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office, said during a recent court hearing that school funds are not used to finance the ESA program.

Travis and Nikki, who have advocated for parent-directed education in emails to lawmakers, joined forces with EdChoice Legal Advocates and the Institute for Justice as one of two families intervening to defend and protect the program.

On June 27, a district judge granted what he called a “narrowly tailored” injunction that barred any money from going to families while he decided whether to pause the program until the lawsuit was decided. On Tuesday, he issued a written order granting the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction blocking the release of any funds to families until he rules on the case. However, he allowed other operations to continue until he decides whether to issue a preliminary injunction that would pause the whole program while the lawsuit is resolved. Wyoming State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder said her office is working with the state attorney general to look for options to challenge the injunction. Attorneys for the intervening families said Wednesday they plan to do the same.

"The court's decision to limit educational opportunity for Wyoming families is contrary to the Wyoming Constitution," said Thomas M. Fisher, executive vice president and director of litigation for EdChoice Legal Advocates. "We will seek to stay the injunction and appeal it as soon as possible."

The Lecks say they will find a way despite the latest ruling to keep their kids at Veritas Academy, though it won’t be easy.

However, they worry about those who aren’t as fortunate.

“I know there are a lot of other families that would like to go to Veritas this fall that it will probably hurt if funding is blocked,” Nikki said.

The Lecks said they do not oppose public schools. They graduated from their local public high schools and believe they received a good education. They never gave private school much thought until it became clear their kids needed something different from what that particular public school district offered.

They just think all families should have the right to choose what’s best for their children, whether that looks like a public school, private school, homeschool, or a combination of many options. Larger Wyoming communities like Casper, Cheyenne, and Laramie have publicly funded public and charter school classical school options that aren’t available in smaller communities.

Nikki hopes that the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship program, if it survives the legal challenge, will create an environment for entrepreneurs to provide more types of education. More is particularly important in rural areas like Cody, where choices are scarce and where families have little recourse if existing options are not the best fit.

“Really, a person’s only option if you don’t like what the public school is doing is to take them out and put them somewhere else,” Nikki said. “Wyoming’s scholarship program,” she said, “is one option to make that less financially challenging for anyone, regardless of location or income.”