House committee gives thumbs up to changes in swim-lesson voucher program

A House panel is on board with allowing older children to qualify for the state’s swimming lessons voucher program.

The House Health Care Budget Subcommittee held a hearing on the measure (HB 85) that calls for revising the popular swimming lessons voucher program to cover the cost of lessons. The program went into effect after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation in 2024.

But Rep. Kim Kendall, a St. Augustine Republican and co-sponsor of the new bill, said the original age limit on the vouchers, for children 0 to 4 years old, is too restrictive. Her proposal would allow children 1 to 7 years old to qualify.

She told the panel that many stakeholders, including swim instructors, say the original program, though appreciated, isn’t practical.

“Ages 0 to 1, the babies show reflexes that look like swimming,” Kendell said. “But they’re too young to actually lift their head up enough in order to breathe out of the water.”

In that first year, she added, children simply aren’t actually learning to swim. She said the majority of infant deaths due to drowning don’t happen in pools or open water. They are most likely to occur in a bath tub in the home.

“It’s giving a false sense of security to the parents,” Kendell said.

She said that for many children under the age of 4, they’re not using the full amount of the voucher program. Kendall said swimming classes could have more participants by expanding the financial relief to families with kids a few years older.

Kendell noted that the number of children drowning in Florida over the past decade has about doubled.

“We simply want to take a great program and simply make it more efficient,” she said.

The subcommittee unanimously approved the bill. There is a companion bill (SB 428) moving through the Senate co-sponsored by Sen. Clay Yarborough, a Jacksonville Republican, and Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat.