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Private school vouchers in Florida redirecting funding away from public schools

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Florida’s expansion of vouchers for families who want to enroll their children in private schools is leading to tighter budgets at public schools across the state.

In 2023, the Republican-led Legislature passed a bill that eliminated the income requirement for families to receive the vouchers, called family empowerment scholarships and Florida tax credit scholarships.

These vouchers, intended to help families who could not afford private education, allow for public state aid to be redirected to families to cover the costs of the private school.

State funding diverted to private school vouchers increased from 12% for the 2021 school year to 24% for the 2025 school year, according to data from the Florida Policy Institute, an Orlando-based nonprofit whose mission is to support equitable access to health care, education, housing and jobs.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the GOP-led Florida Legislature praised vouchers as a way for more students to be able to attend private schools.

“Florida is No. 1 when it comes to education freedom and education choice, and today’s bill signing represents the largest expansion of education choice in the history of these United States,” DeSantis said in March 2023 when he signed the new law. “When you combine private scholarships, charter schools, and district choice programs, Florida already has 1.3 million students attending a school of their choosing.”

Then-Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, a Naples Republican, was a strong supporter of vouchers. When the Legislature passed the voucher bill, she said that public schools “will have a meaningful chance to compete right alongside other school choice options.”

Data from the Florida Policy Institute shows that the growing number of students using these vouchers since 2023 were not previously in public school; many students were already attending a private school and paying for it out of pocket. About 69% of students new to using the voucher were already enrolled in private schools, according to Step Up for Students, the nonprofit in charge of the scholarships.

These vouchers — and other reasons for declining enrollment — have led to declining funding among the largest school districts. Teachers say they are feeling the effects.

“Our public schools are struggling to make ends meet,” said Andrew Spar, President of the Florida Education Association. “That means fewer programs for kids, larger class size for our students. It also is impacting teacher pay.”

Florida ranks 50th in the nation in average teacher pay, at $54,875, according to the National Education Association, one of the largest teacher unions. The Legislature in recent years has raised the minimum salaries for new teachers in Florida, which now ranks 17th in the U.S., at  $48,639.

“Unlike in the private sector, as much as people who say this is about choice and this is about competition, it’s about neither: it’s about money,” Spar said.

Orange County is the fifth-most populated county in Florida. For the current school year, 24% of Orange County’s state aid is being redirected to vouchers, while enrollment in public schools has dropped only 3%.

Veteran teacher Laurie McLeod has been teaching in Orange County schools since 1998; she has seen noticeable changes in the past couple of years.

“I have more students assigned to me personally than I have in the past six years,” she said. She added, “I have over 35 students in my advanced studies Cambridge classes.”

On top of increased class sizes, Mcleod reports cuts to intensive reading classes and stagnant teacher pay.

“We are underfunded, not because we’re under-enrolled but because our money keeps going to private schools and businesses,” she said.

McLeod does not support the use of public dollars for private education.

“Private schools are a great option for families who want to pursue and pay for them, but I don’t think that taxpayer dollars and public money should fund private schools.”

At least 17 states have at least one program in which public taxpayer money can be redirected to private schools.

“There’s this scramble to survive in this political landscape; I don’t think that public schools should be weaponized in any way.” Mcleod said.

The amount of money redirected from state aid for vouchers averages about $8,000 per student, meaning for every student that receives a voucher, that amount is reduced from the public school district where they live.

Florida’s voucher program, created in 2019, is funded with money from the Florida Education Financial Plan, the same source for public schools.

The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, created in 2001, allows businesses to receive a tax cut for every dollar they donate to a scholarship-funding organization.

Prior to 2023, both programs had income limits. Recipients could not exceed a certain percentage of the federal poverty level.

“I don’t call them scholarships because scholarships implies that there’s some kind of merit that is necessary to obtain them, so I call them school vouchers,” said Norín Dollard, senior policy analyst at Florida Policy Institute and director at Kids Count Data Center.

Dollard worked on a Voucher Budget Report in January, and most recently finished the 2025-26 Education Budget Report in August.

Dollard said $3.8 billion in Florida public school funds will be directed toward vouchers during this school year, compared to only $1.4 billion during the school year that started in 2022, when the income limit was first eliminated.

“These voucher expenditures have grown so exponentially” Dollard said. “They obviously threaten public schools and most of them go to folks who are already in private school, anyway.”

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This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at [email protected]. You can donate to support our students here.



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Miles Davis tapped to lead School Board organizing workshop at national LGBTQ conference

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Miles Davis is taking his Florida-focused organizing playbook to the national stage.

Davis, Policy Director at PRISM Florida and Director of Advocacy and Communications at SAVE, has been selected to present a workshop at the 2026 Creating Change Conference, the largest annual LGBTQ advocacy and movement-building convention.

It’s a major nod to his rising role in Florida’s LGBTQ policy landscape.

The National LGBTQ Task Force, which organizes the conference, announced that Davis will present his session, “School Board Organizing 101.” His proposal rose to the top of more than 550 submissions competing for roughly 140 slots, a press note said, making this year’s conference one of the most competitive program cycles in the event’s history.

His workshop will be scheduled during the Jan. 21-24 gathering in Washington, D.C.

Davis said his selection caps a strong year for PRISM Florida, where he helped shepherd the organization’s first-ever bill (HB 331) into the Legislature. The measure, sponsored by Tampa Democratic Rep. Dianne Hart, would restore local oversight over reproductive health and HIV/AIDS instruction, undoing changes enacted under a 2023 expansion to Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” law, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics.

Davis’ workshop draws directly from that work and aims to train LGBTQ youth, families and advocates in how local boards operate, how public comment can shape decisions and how communities can mobilize around issues like book access, inclusive classrooms and student safety.

“School boards are where the real battles over student safety, book access, and inclusive classrooms are happening,” Davis said. “I’m honored to bring this training to Creating Change and help our community build the skills to show up, speak out, and win — especially as PRISM advances legislation like HB 331 that returns power to our local communities.”

Davis’ profile has grown in recent years, during which he jumped from working on the campaigns and legislative teams of lawmakers like Hart and Miami Gardens Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones to working in key roles for organizations like America Votes, PRISM and SAVE.

The National LGBTQ Task Force, founded in 1973, is one of the nation’s oldest LGBTQ advocacy organizations. It focuses on advancing civil rights through federal policy work, grassroots engagement and leadership development.

Its Creating Change Conference draws thousands for four days of training and strategy-building yearly, a press note said.



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Kevin Steele seeks insight from conservative leaders at Rick Scott-led summit

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State Rep. Kevin Steele’s campaign for Chief Financial Officer already enjoys political support from U.S. Sen. Rick Scott. The Dade City Republican attended a summit headlined by the Senator to also gain some policy insight and mentoring.

Steele was among the attendees for the Rescuing the American Dream summit held on Thursday in Washington, D.C. He said it was a quest for knowledge that drew him to Capitol Hill to hear the discussion.

“The way you do things better in the future is by learning from people who have already accomplished something,” Steele told Florida Politics at the event.

Scott gave a shoutout to Steele from the stage. The Governor already endorsed Steele, who is challenging the appointed Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia in 2026. At the summit, Scott both promoted conservative successes in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term and laid out visions on issues from health care reform to cryptocurrency.

Steele called the panel discussions “amazing” and instructive on tackling affordability issues in Florida.

“If we don’t start addressing those things head first, we’re going to fall behind,” Steele said. “I think we’ve lost several million jobs in the state of Florida over the past six or seven years. Learning from Rick Scott and how to bring jobs back to the state is a good thing. And I think that we need to start tackling some of the big, big things that we need to attack.”

That includes addressing property insurance premiums head on and evaluating the property tax situation.

While he will be challenging a Republican incumbent in a Primary, Steele voiced caution at comparing his philosophy too directly with Ingoglia, a former Republican Party of Florida Chair with a history of animus with Scott.

But he did suggest Ingoglia’s recent scrutinizing of local governments may be starting at the wrong place when it comes to cutting spending.

“We need to start focusing on state down, instead of going to a county and pointing out flaws there,” Steele said. “There’s a lot of issues at the state level that we can address, some of which we are, some of which I’ve submitted different bills to address. I think that there’s a lot of waste and abuse at the state level that we can focus on.”



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Darren Soto refuses to call for Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s resignation

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U.S. Rep. Darren Soto is refusing to say whether indicted U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick should vacate her seat in Congress.

Video obtained by Florida Politics shows Soto being confronted on Capitol Hill. “Will you call on Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to resign?” the videographer asks.

Initially, Soto remains silent, but the questioner suggests that silence shows “support” for someone who “stole $5 million in health care funds for the most vulnerable.” The Kissimmee Democrat then responds but continues walking away from the camera. He then conflates a censure motion against U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican, and Cherfilus-McCormick, a Miramar Democrat.

“Both Mills and Cherfilus-McCormick, both will have due process. Thank you,” Soto said.

Both Cherfilus-McCormick and Mills remain the subjects of ongoing House Ethics Committee investigations. But only Cherfilus-McCormick now faces criminal prosecution for alleged financial crimes.

A grand jury in November indicted Cherfilus-McCormick on charges she stole $5 million in disaster relief funds to finance her 2021 congressional campaign.

The indictment alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, secured funding intended for a COVID vaccine distribution program, but when overpayments were made, she routed the spending through several accounts that later donated the funds as campaign contributions.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said pursuant to House rules that Cherfilus-McCormick had to give up her ranking status on the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa. Local Democrats have started to issue calls for the Miramar Democrat’s resignation. But there have been no calls from Democratic members of Congress.

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican, has said if she won’t resign, he will move for her expulsion.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which lists Soto as a target in 2026, slammed Soto’s unwillingness to criticize a fellow Democrat.

“Darren Soto’s refusal to call on Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to resign is unacceptable,” said NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole. “Floridians deserve a representative who fights for them, not his taxpayer-thieving colleague.”



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