1. United States
2. Fla.
3. Letter

My students are disabled, and for years have used the FES-UA scholarship to homeschool. One important and highly educational part of their education is visiting zoos, museums, and aquariums. In the past, we could buy a family membership to these educational facilities and split the cost between my 3 children. For example, if a family membership was $180 and an individual membership was $100, we could buy a family membership for $180 and the scholarship would reimburse us $60 for each of my children. Instead of paying $300 for 3 individual memberships, we could pay $180 for one family membership. Now, family memberships are prohibited, so I am forced to spend more on individual memberships, wasting state funds I need for other aspects of my childrens' education. What's more, spending more is the best case scenario. Most educational facilities do not offer individual memberships for children, because logically, children must be accompanied by adults. This means that, functionally, the scholarship will no longer reimburse memberships for museums, zoos, or aquariums at all. This is a massive educational loss, since these facilities offer so much hands-on learning, valuable to all students but especially needed for disabled students. Public schools regularly buy in bulk to save. They do not buy textbooks or pencils at the individual price, they get a quantity discount. Field trips do not charge the individual admission rate, they get a group discount. Homeschool families should be able to take the same advantage of the group discount we are eligible for at these facilities. Please ensure this is changed back to allow for family memberships, as was some for years, as soon as possible. This scholarship is the main reason I support you, and this loss is a huge blow. Thank you for your time.