Homeschool and voucher families in Land O' Lakes and Lutz can now send their children to local public schools for career training, Cambridge courses and elementary specials like art and music, after the Pasco County School Board voted Wednesday, July 8, to expand its Flex Education program.
The expansion adds career and technical education classes, Cambridge AICE courses and other middle and high school electives at campuses including Land O' Lakes High School and Sunlake High School. Course availability depends on open seats at each campus. Elementary students gain access to art, computer science, music and physical education.
The program launched in 2025 with just 34 Advanced Placement courses and attracted only four students across its first two semesters.
"We're not just creating a pathway for our voucher and homeschool students to take classes on our campuses," board member Jessica Wright said at the July 8 meeting. "We're also communicating directly with those families, we're partnering with them, so that parents can really have the most unique setting for their child that they think is appropriate."
Wright, a District 4 representative and former educator who took office in November 2024, emphasized the district's outreach to families choosing alternatives to traditional enrollment.
Tuition and fees
Families using state Personalized Education Program vouchers pay tuition from the voucher funds. Homeschoolers who don't accept voucher money enroll for free, with the district receiving state funding for those students.
The board-approved fee schedule for full-year courses:
- AP or Cambridge AICE: $1,940 (includes $550 for textbooks and exam fees)
- Career and technical education: $1,490 (includes $100 for tools)
- Other secondary courses: $1,390
- Elementary art, computer science or music: $278 each (once per week)
- Elementary PE: $834 (three times per week)
Semester-length courses run $1,245 for AP/AICE, $795 for CTE and $695 for other secondary classes. Students may take up to three courses per semester and attend the school closest to their home that offers the course.
Behind the expansion
Pasco County has roughly 5,500 homeschooled children, with nearly half at the high school level, according to district data from 2025. The county projected its first enrollment decline in more than a decade for 2025-26, even as the number of school-age children grew countywide.
Superintendent John Legg framed the district's approach bluntly at a May 2025 board workshop: "We are basically becoming a vendor."
More than 150 parents responded to a district survey in spring 2025 about course access. Their top requests were subjects hard to teach at home: art, music, electives and advanced classes. The July 8 expansion directly answers those requests.
Samantha Del Valle, director of Pasco's Office of Leading and Learning, told the Tampa Bay Times in July 2025 that adding outside students can help fill smaller classes, keeping those offerings available for all students.
How to enroll
Pasco County's 2026-27 school year begins Thursday, Aug. 13. Families can enroll at the high school closest to their home or through Pasco eSchool for virtual options.
