profiteering at the expense of students, families, and taxpayers: Step Up’s Marketplace

Students shouldn’t be trapped In a Marketplace Full Of overpriced choices. Families and taxpayers deserve better.

On August 19, 2025, Florida’s new Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that his office had filed a lawsuit against textbook publishers McGraw Hill and Savvas Learning Company, accusing the companies of systematically overcharging Florida school districts for instructional materials in violation of state law. Uthmeier declared:

“Our lawsuit exposes a textbook case of corporate greed—companies charging Florida schools more than the law allows, pocketing the difference, and sticking taxpayers with the bill. Florida will not be a playground for deceitful profiteers who think they can cheat our students and teachers.”

https://www.myfloridalegal.com/newsrelease/attorney-general-james-uthmeier-sues-major-textbook-publishers-overcharging-florida

As long as we’re on the subject of “deceitful profiteers who think they can cheat our students,” let’s take a closer look at Step Up for Students’ Digital Marketplace…

Step Up For Students (SUFS or Step Up) is Florida’s politically connected Scholarship Funding Organization and the state’s leading voucher advocacy group. Since 2022, all of Florida’s voucher programs have been converted into Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Unlike traditional vouchers, ESAs allow parents to spend taxpayer dollars on a wide array of educational products and services—tutoring, online programs, exam fees, and private school tuition. Step Up’s ESAs are celebrated as offering “customization.”

In 2023, Florida introduced Personalized Education Program (PEP) vouchers for families who homeschool. PEP recipients receive the same per-pupil funding as their neighbors in public schools. Families can use funds either by shopping in Step Up’s online marketplace or by purchasing items themselves and applying for reimbursement.

Both options are problematic, drawing widespread complaints. 

Parents in online PEP support groups report reimbursement delays of 60 days or more, with thousands of dollars tied up in limbo. Families who cannot afford to wait for reimbursements have only one option, the Marketplace—where goods are often outrageously overpriced.

Examples from parents include:

• A $175 garden planter set on the Marketplace that sells for $24 at Walmart.
• Crayons priced at $10, compared to $3 at Walmart.
• LEGO sets and school supplies costing two to three times their retail value.
• Only $200 high-end headphones available, with no affordable options.

Parents question whether fair pricing is monitored on the Marketplace at all and encourage recipients to stretch their dollars by shopping elsewhere.

One mom complained “It is crazy the amount they hike up prices on MSS. This program is supposed to help families but I think it is actually helping these companies who are allowed to price gouge. This program needs to be looked into for underhanded behavior.“

For families who cannot afford to delay reimbursement for their students’ educational needs, the marketplace is their only option. Ironically, the same low income families who voucher advocates describe as being “trapped by their zip code” may find themselves “trapped” in an overpriced marketplace where they are forced, by circumstance, to spend their ESA dollars.

Even worse, the Marketplace is completely closed to public scrutiny. Taxpayers cannot see which vendors are approved, what prices are being charged, or how much money is flowing through this $4 billion publicly funded platform. Only voucher recipients—after receiving funding—can access it.

The Step Up Marketplace appears rife with the very same abuses A.G. Uthmeier condemned in the textbook industry: profiteering at the expense of students, families, and taxpayers. A growing chorus of frustrated families is calling for an investigation into vendor pricing and reimbursement delays. Taxpayers, too, deserve transparency and assurance that they are not subsidizing systematic overcharging.

In the upcoming legislative session, Florida lawmakers should consider:

• Requiring independent audits of marketplace pricing and vendor practices.
• Ensuring public access to marketplace listings and prices for transparency.
• Establishing timely reimbursement standards to prevent unnecessary financial burdens on families.
• Examining whether price caps are necessary to prevent profiteering.

Without stronger oversight, the Step Up Marketplace risks becoming another example of companies “systematically overcharging” Florida’s families and taxpayers. As with the textbook publishers now facing legal action, public education funds must be protected from waste, fraud, and abuse.