A warning to blue-state governors from the Florida voucher wreckage |
A warning to blue-state governors from the Florida voucher wreckage
Blue-state governors take note: The federal government is dangling billions of dollars in school choice money in front of your states, and Florida’s experience shows exactly what that money actually buys.
It buys a $4 billion-a-year entitlement with almost no strings attached. There is no reliable accounting of which children are receiving the funds, no requirement that private schools hire qualified teachers and no meaningful way to know whether students are learning anything at all.
As a Florida state senator, I’ve watched my state become a cautionary tale for what happens when politicians trade accountability for a talking point. Before you accept a single federal voucher dollar, look at what’s happened in my state.
Florida has had education vouchers that divert tax dollars to private schools and homeschool students since the 1990s. But beginning in 2023, the Florida legislature eliminated income eligibility caps and made taxpayer-funded universal vouchers available to virtually every school-aged child in the state, making it the second state to do so after Arizona enacted similar legislation.
Florida taxpayers are now on the hook for more than $4 billion of taxpayer-funded school vouchers annually. There is virtually no accountability for these dollars. There is little oversight of the finances, academic standards or hiring of teachers at voucher-funded private schools.
Bipartisan attempts to increase accountability and oversight have been stymied in each of the last three legislative sessions. Which invites many questions.
If Florida is truly a state that protects our........