Florida has received $6.6 million in federal funding to expand virtual work-based learning, pre-apprenticeships and other career training for students statewide, with rural communities and students facing transportation barriers positioned as primary beneficiaries.
The state announcement, issued September 14, says the award comes from the U.S. departments of Labor and Education and will expand Florida’s existing Xello platform. More than 1.1 million active students already use that state-selected career-planning system, according to the department.
The practical change is intended to reach beyond career exploration. Florida says students will gain access to virtual employer experiences, simulated industry challenges, technical-skill exercises and pre-apprenticeship opportunities tied to industries seeking workers. The expansion targets students in Florida’s 29 Rural Economic Development Initiative counties as well as urban students whose transportation options limit access to physical worksites.
What the expansion changes
Xello’s Florida program currently reports more than 7 million student logins during the 2025–26 school year and over 2,530 employer, community and work-based-learning partnerships. Its program overview describes a statewide system spanning elementary career awareness through secondary planning and coordination with employers.
Federal guidance treats work-based learning as a broader continuum than conventional internships. The U.S. Education Department’s tool kit emphasizes state strategy, employer participation, data collection and program scale. Separately, the Labor Department says effective pre-apprenticeships should connect participants to registered apprenticeship programs and provide credit or advanced placement for skills already acquired.
That distinction matters because the Florida award is not described as creating a single apprenticeship program or guaranteeing a job. It finances expanded access and coordination through a digital platform. The eventual value will depend on which employers participate, how schools integrate the experiences, whether students complete meaningful projects and how the state measures transitions into additional training, apprenticeships or employment.
The expansion could reduce a longstanding access problem: students who live far from major employers or lack reliable transportation may be unable to participate in traditional workplace experiences even when their schools offer them. Virtual simulations cannot fully replace supervised experience at a worksite, but they can provide earlier exposure and a pathway into in-person training.
State education officials also frame the award as a workforce-development investment rather than a replacement for academic instruction. Commissioner Henry Mack said the goal is to give middle- and high-school students exposure to work in industries considered important to Florida’s economy. The department has not identified a required participation level, and students’ access will still depend on local school implementation, scheduling and available employer partnerships.
Florida has not yet published a school-by-school distribution schedule or detailed performance targets for the new funding. Families and districts should therefore watch for implementation guidance explaining eligibility, participating industries, student access, privacy protections and the outcomes the state will report.
