Florida Senate passes school choice funding reform bill backed by Sen. Don Gaetz

Get The Coast | By Jared Williams | January 15, 2026

The Florida Senate approved legislation Wednesday that would separate scholarship funding from public school budgets and increase accountability for the state’s family empowerment programs.

The Florida Senate passed legislation Wednesday to restructure funding for the state’s scholarship programs, addressing issues that have reportedly contributed to enrollment declines and budget pressures not only in Okaloosa County, but also other Florida school districts.

• Senate Bill 318, filed by Sen. Don Gaetz, former Okaloosa County superintendent of schools, passed the full Senate on Jan. 14 after clearing committee in November. The bill would move Family Empowerment Scholarship funding into a separate categorical fund outside the Florida Education Finance Program calculation used to fund public schools.

“Florida was the first state to pass universal school choice, because we stand firmly on the principle that parents know best and have the right and the responsibility to determine where and how their children are educated,” Gaetz said in a statement following the vote. “We set out on this journey with the best of intentions, but in the words of the Auditor General, ‘whatever could go wrong has gone wrong.’”

The legislation addresses problems identified in a 2025 operational audit ordered by the Legislature and conducted by the state Auditor General. The audit found that 45 of Florida’s 67 school districts are experiencing enrollment decline, with structural issues in how scholarship funding is tracked and distributed.

Okaloosa County is among those districts facing significant challenges from the scholarship programs. During a Jan. 12 school board meeting where the board authorized a public hearing on closing Mary Esther and Longwood elementary schools, Superintendent Marcus Chambers said 5,000 Okaloosa families currently use education scholarships, with 3,500 of those students having never attended district schools.

• “That’s $45 million coming in and, in essence, going right out,” Chambers told the board. “Just imagine a world right now where that $45 million, or even a portion of that, was coming to public schools, what these budgets would look like.”

The district reported a 452-student enrollment decline below projections in October, representing approximately $4 million in lost funding. District officials attribute the decline to multiple factors, including the Family Empowerment Scholarship program, which grew from approximately 1,800 participants last year to about 3,000 this year in Okaloosa County.

The scholarship impact extends beyond enrollment numbers. South end elementary schools have lost more than 1,200 students over the past decade, a 19% decline, according to district data. Projections through 2034 show the south end will lose an additional 1,455 elementary students.

• The school board’s decision to authorize a public hearing on school closures came after the district cut more than $22 million from its budget over the past two years. Chambers told board members during Monday’s meeting that the next two budget cycles are projected to be “even more challenging.”

SB 318 would create several changes aimed at improving transparency and accountability in scholarship programs. The bill requires families to attest that students are not enrolled in public schools and establishes fall and spring application windows with additional documentation requirements.

Student eligibility would be verified before each payment, and scholarship payments would shift from quarterly to monthly installments. The Department of Education would develop a standard withdrawal form for scholarship applicants leaving public schools.

• The legislation would also require the Auditor General to conduct annual end-of-year audits of scholarship programs and require Scholarship Funding Organizations to return funds based on audit findings.

The bill recognizes that 45 of Florida’s 67 school districts have been losing enrollment over the past five years and would allow funds to be used to buffer that decline, with particular attention to fiscally constrained counties.

Gaetz said he filed the legislation in response to hundreds of messages from parents, private schools and public schools “urging that we preserve the promise of school choice – public, private, or home school, by fixing the structural problems within this iconic program.”

“If this issue is left to fester, it will imperil school choice in our state,” Gaetz said. “We who believe in school choice and parent empowerment want to safeguard it. That’s what our bill does.”

The legislation is co-sponsored by Sen. Corey Simon, who chairs the Senate Committee on K-12 Education and sponsored the 2023 legislation that created Florida’s universal school choice program; Sen. Danny Burgess, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee on Pre-K-12 Education; and Sens. Rosalind Osgood, Darryl Rouson and Jason Pizzo.

Gaetz served as Okaloosa County Superintendent before being elected to the Florida Senate and served as Senate president from 2012-2014.

The bill now moves to the Florida House for consideration. If approved by both chambers and signed by the governor, the changes would take effect for the upcoming school year.

During Monday’s school board meeting, board member Tim Bryant told community members that legislative action is critical to addressing the challenges facing public schools.

• “If we could get everybody together to go to Tallahassee and talk to our representatives to save public schools, because this is what it’s about, saving public schools,” Bryant said.

The school board’s public hearing on the proposed closure of Mary Esther and Longwood elementary schools is scheduled for Feb. 23, with a final vote possibly that evening.