This is a look-back for the week of June 29, 2026. It is not a sent Tuesday issue, and it is not a line-item reading of the General Appropriations Act. The Governor's signing release, a same-week Florida Politics write-up, and the 2026 statute displays below were re-opened on August 19, 2026. Live program windows belong on This month in Florida homeschooling.
By that week in Tampa, families were handed a signed Fiscal Year 2026–27 budget and a K–12 bullet that named the Family Empowerment Scholarship. The signing release did not rewrite a home-education file, rename PEP, or publish a veto of either program.
What the Governor's office said it signed
The Executive Office of the Governor dated the release June 29, 2026. It said Governor Ron DeSantis signed a $117.6 billion Fiscal Year 2026–2027 budget after nearly $810 million in line-item vetoes, described there as the fourth consecutive year of declining state spending.
Those figures belong to the Governor's office. A press release is not a GAA line.
On K–12, the same release said the signed budget provides a historic $30 billion for the K–12 public school system and $9,338 per student, an increase of $150 over last year. Then the sentence that matters for scholarship families: that investment "will also cover the costs of nearly 500,000 students who are projected to participate in Florida’s school choice program—the Family Empowerment Scholarship."
That is the Governor's office's projection, in the Governor's office's words. It is not an award table, not a per-student FES amount, and not a count this briefing audited.
Florida Politics also used $117.6 billion. It said the Governor vetoed about $1.6 billion and that the full veto list was not immediately available after the news conference. Those two veto totals are not the same sentence. This look-back does not flatten them, and it does not invent a FES, PEP, or home-education veto. Nothing in the pages we opened said those programs were cut.
Do not mix this signing with an earlier proposal. The June 29 figures are $9,338 per student and nearly 500,000 projected FES students. They are not December 2025 proposal numbers, and this briefing does not import those.
The named program is 1002.394
The 2026 Florida Statutes display titles section 1002.394 "The Family Empowerment Scholarship Program." That is the statute the signing release named.
Paragraph (3)(a) is the K–12 educational-options track. Paragraph (3)(b) is the disability track, open as young as age 3 or 4 when the other tests are met. Authorized uses under (4)(a) begin with tuition and fees at an eligible private school and also list instructional materials and curriculum. That is the program the Governor's office attached to the nearly-500,000 projection.
It is not PEP. Section 1002.395 is a different statute: the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. That display defines a personalized education program by pointing to section 1002.01. The Governor's K–12 FES bullet did not name PEP, did not name 1002.395, and did not give a personalized-education headcount.
If you are not sure which statute is on the award letter, ask the scholarship-funding organization. A later look-back on the PEP / 1002.41 split is at What Step Up was saying about PEP the week of July 6.
A 1002.41 file did not change
Section 1002.41 is still the home-education program. The 2026 display says it is not a school district program and is registered with the superintendent only to comply with attendance under 1003.21(1). The parent is not required to hold a regular Florida teaching certificate.
The parent's jobs on that file are the ones the statute already listed: written notice of intent, a portfolio (a contemporaneous log plus samples), preservation for two years, and an annual educational evaluation chosen from the five methods in paragraph (1)(f), filed with the superintendent. The district shall accept the notice and immediately register, and may not require extra verification unless the student chooses a district program or service. Subsection (13) still bars further regulation beyond that section unless it is necessary for a district program.
None of that is a budget bullet. The June 29 signing release did not name 1002.41, did not add a portfolio item, and did not move the annual evaluation. A home-education family who is not on FES did not pick up a new scholarship duty because Tallahassee signed a spending plan.
If the child is on FES, follow the 1002.394 agreement and the organization's handbook — not a county home-education checklist copied onto an account. If the child is on PEP, that is still 1002.395, not the FES headcount in the Governor's K–12 paragraph.
One next step
Read the named statute, not the slogan. "School choice" in the signing release was attached to Family Empowerment, 1002.394. Keep doing the file you are actually on: notice, portfolio, and evaluation stay on 1002.41; a student learning plan and the test tied to renewal stay on PEP; FES families stay with the organization that holds the account. Treat the dollar and headcount figures as the Governor's office's, not as your award letter.
This is a news look-back, not legal advice. Confirm the live statute display or the page that holds your account before you act.
Official references
Opened August 19, 2026, for this look-back of the week of June 29, 2026.
- Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Florida Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Budget (June 29, 2026)
- Florida Politics — Gov. DeSantis signs $117.6B budget
- Florida Statute 1002.394 — Family Empowerment Scholarship Program (2026 statutes display)
- Florida Statute 1002.395 — Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program (2026 statutes display)
- Florida Statute 1002.41 — Home education programs (2026 statutes display)