Welcome to the Freedom to Learn podcast. I'm your host, Ginny Gentles. This season, we're diving

into what it means to return education to states, communities, and families, and we're exploring

what becomes possible when education is freed from union dominance and federal control.

Lauren May joins the podcast this week to dispel education freedom myths, explain how Florida

became a national leader in education choice, and discuss what to expect from the new federal

scholarship tax credit.

We delve into Florida's school choice history.

The state created small targeted scholarship programs almost 25 years ago and now serves

more than 500,000 students with universal education savings accounts and other programs.

We also talk about how scholarship funding organizations work, why Florida's Catholic school environment is growing, even in a competitive environment,

and how families are increasingly

customizing learning. Lauren May is Director of Advocacy at Step Up for Students, the nation's

largest scholarship granting organization, and a former principal, teacher, tutor, soccer, and

swim coach. She's also the mother of two school-age children enrolled in Catholic schools.

Lauren May, welcome to Freedom to Learn. Thank you. Hi, it's great to be here. You're a former educator and school leader. What prompted your transition from the classroom, from the school,

and into education freedom advocacy. Oh, I love

talking about that. So when I was in college, I planned to be a lawyer. I was going to go to law

school at the University of Florida, go Gators. And then I started teaching Sunday school. And

something started tugging on my heartstrings. And I felt like God wanted me to move in a different

direction. So I decided to

change my major and go into education. So after I graduated, I moved back to Jacksonville, Florida,

where I was born and raised. And I worked at an inner city Catholic school where all of our

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