JPEF releases guide to help parents select schools

The Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) has released a new guide to help parents choose schools for their children now that the use of school vouchers has been expanded. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1 into law soon after it passed the legislature earlier this year. The expansion takes effect July 1 and makes private school vouchers available for all Florida K-12 grade students. 

“Deciding where your child is going to go to school is one of the most important decisions parents can make,” said JPEF President Rachael Tutwiler Fortune. “One of JPEF’s strengths is our research, so we have leaned into that to provide parents with a guide that provides them with questions to ask and the reasons for asking those questions.” 

The guide provides parents with questions to ask based on their priorities, from academics to STEM to extracurricular activities. Parents can decide which questions apply to their students and their educational priorities. There are also suggested questions relating to communications with parents and how student success is evaluated. 

“We hope parents and guardians will use this guide as a reference to understand why these questions are important to student success and that it helps them to make well informed choices about where and how to ensure their child receives a high-quality education,” said Fortune.