The rising price of school vouchers has lawmakers seeking solutions
Tampa Bay Times | By Jeffrey S. Solochek | February 18, 2025
Florida’s private schools have seen a boom in students paying with state-funded vouchers in the two years since lawmakers lifted income eligibility requirements for the school choice initiative.
The Orlando Sentinel spelled out in great detail this week how the private schools, which primarily are religious, saw huge increases in the percentages of students using vouchers to cover some or all of their tuition costs. Many of those children’s families previously paid the bill themselves, but accepted what some have called a tax-free windfall to help with the expense.
Some schools increased their tuition to take advantage.
And the program shows no signs of abating.
Participation caps for some voucher-funded choices are rising, and early applications from Step Up For Students — the state’s primary scholarship funding organization — are showing record interest. The White House, meanwhile, has issued orders prioritizing individuals’ education options.
What does that mean to the bottom line for Florida taxpayers?
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers already are positioning to further shift the public education funding model in favor of school choice.
The House PreK-12 Education Appropriations subcommittee held a hearing a week ago to hear from superintendents on how to better forecast enrollment and possibly recalculate the funding formula. This morning, the panel held another session to discuss voucher funding, including presentations from Step Up and AAA Scholarship about how they administer the model.
In issuing his budget proposal, DeSantis also released a conforming bill that would shift millions of dollars that lawmakers set aside to help school districts maintain their budgets if they lose students to voucher programs. The “stabilization” money — $350 million in its first year — would instead be used to cover more vouchers.
The three superintendents who spoke to the panel last week urged lawmakers to keep public education in mind as the effort unfolds.
The way the system is currently designed, they said, school districts struggle to know how many students they have and where all the money needs to go, particularly as voucher funds pass through their coffers to the private schools.
“I believe, and I don’t mean to poke anyone in the eye, but eventually we’ve arrived at the point in time where there is very little transparency in the (voucher) student today — who they are, where they are, how long they’ve been here, how long they’ve been gone,” said Hendry County superintendent Mike Swindle.
He proposed creating a monitoring system where students and their funding could be better tracked. He also suggested placing voucher funding in a budget line separate from school districts.
“Running it through us just creates more of an issue,” Swindle said.
Lawmakers have yet to release any bill language. But it’s anticipated.
