All three members of the Florida Cabinet are questioning the legality of the state voucher system that has steered taxpayer-funded scholarships to private Islamic schools that they contend undermine “Western” values.
Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, all Republicans and allies of the governor, are wondering whether Florida’s universal school voucher system allowing Floridians to attend certain private schools at discounted rates can be properly extended to the Hifz Academy and Bayaan Academy, Islamic schools in Tampa now accepting these scholarships.
The Cabinet, although powerful, lacks authority to set policy or stymie funding from the state to specific schools. That power resides with the Department of Education, which did not respond to a request for comment. (See: “Your Tax Dollars Are About to Fund Religious Schools, Salafist Madrassas and Satanic Temples.”)
“Sharia law seeks to destroy and supplant the pillars of our republican form of government and is incompatible with the Western tradition,” said Uthmeier, who serves as Florida’s chief legal officer, on social media Monday. “The use of taxpayer-funded school vouchers to promote Sharia law likely contravenes Florida law and undermines our national security.”
However, his office declined to say whether he’d pursue an investigation.
In a statement to the Phoenix, Ingoglia said his office is looking into these schools through an audit.
“We have the ability. We’re already looking into it,” said the Spring Hill Republican, who’s led a statewide program of searching through the finances of local governments for potential “waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Simpson, the former Florida Senate president who championed universal school choice, insisted in a statement to the Phoenix: “Schools that indoctrinate Sharia law should not be a part of our taxpayer-funded school voucher program.”
Of note, Florida’s school voucher program applies to 2,278 private schools, and 82% of participating students attend a religious school. Roman Catholic schools are the single largest religious recipients.
Cabinet members are elected statewide and independent of the governor. DeSantis appointed Uthmeier and Ingoglia earlier this year to fill vacancies.
‘No place in the USA’
This wouldn’t be the first time Florida has nixed voucher funds for schools.
Most recently, DeSantis in 2023 directed the education department to pull voucher funds from schools with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Before that, the DOE in 2003 dropped voucher funds for Tampa’s Islamic Academy of Florida after two of its affiliates were charged (and later convicted) for terrorism ties.
The Republicans’ push to more closely examine the schools’ finances comes amid a broader push to crack down on Sharia Law, Islam’s legal system, derived from the Quran. This was largely sparked by the Oct. 7 massacre by the Islamic militant group Hamas on Israelis two years ago, which led to a war that has only just begun to wind down.
A Florida member of Congress has since filed a bill to outlaw enforcement of Shari’a Law in American systems, and a state representative months later filed nearly identical language in the Florida Legislature. Neither bill appeared to be based on any example of Sharia law in the U.S., but were described as preventative. Neither measure would apply to school voucher funding.
The governor’s office referred the Phoenix to a post by DeSantis in early October insisting that Sharia law “has no place in the USA” and is “incompatible” with the Constitution, and did not indicate that he would instruct DOE to pull their funding.
The word “Sharia” did not appear on the websites of either Hifz Academy nor Bayaan Academy.
Where did the controversy come from?
The RAIR Foundation, a right-wing media organization dedicated to opposing communism and “Islamic Supremacy,” last week published a lengthy article and two videos claiming that Florida’s school choice vouchers are being used to build “Sharia-run institutions” that “convert public dollars into permanent Islamic infrastructure.”
It pointed to two private Islamic schools in Tampa teaching both Islam and traditional school subjects at the K-12 level that accept school vouchers. Hifz was founded in 2011 and teaches 460 students at a rate of $9,600 per K-6th grader and $10,000 for every 7th-12th grader. Bayaan was founded in 2015 and teaches 200 students at a rate of $12,700 per K-5th grader, $14,700 per 6th-11th grader, and $7,350 per twelfth grader.
The article claims that Bayaan Academy’s principal, Magda Elkadi Saleh, is the daughter of the late Ahmed Elkadi, a founding member of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. South Florida congressmen earlier this year attempted to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization for allegedly supporting terrorist groups.
Such scholarships for religious schools were first made possible by a 1999 law under then-Gov. Jeb Bush for low-income students searching outside the public school system. In 2023, the Legislature expanded the law to allow any Floridian, regardless of income, to apply for vouchers to go to private schools accepting these scholarships.
According to Step Up For Students, the nonprofit that administers most of the state’s scholarships, Florida’s school choice programs provide an average of between $7,700 and $8,500 to students attending non-public schools. More than 122,000 new students started using vouchers in the 2023-24 school year.
When asked for comment, the Council for American-Islamic Relations referred the Phoenix to a Huffington Post article on RAIR’s founder, Amy Mekelburg, documenting her controversial past; this includes calling former President Barack Obama a “jihadist,” attempting to free a man convicted of killing his girlfriend, and encouraging readers to follow a man known to praise Adolf Hitler.
Step Up for Students has yet to get back to the Phoenix about how much money the Tampa schools received from the student voucher programs.
–Liv Caputo, Florida Phoenix
Merrill Shapiro says
Our country’s founders, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison prominent among them, tried their best to save Florida from this morass by urging the government to keep it’s nose out of the world of religion and urging religious organizations and institutions to keep their nose out of government. Sadly, Florida’s leadership hasn’t gotten the message.
This, despite the fact that Florida’s own Constitution, Article IX say cleary and plainly:
The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. Adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education….
Note well, that Article IX calls for “a” system of free public education. Not a system where everyone can create their own schools, but one single system. Let’s all get behind the system of free public education in our state and in our community.
Joe D says
Unfortunately for the Florida Legislative Cabinet, once you make public funds available to non-public schools….you open the FLOODGATES.
The US Constitution states that there will be no STATE SPONSORED /PREFERRED RELIGION….so if you want to have public money going to “Christian” or Jewish private schools, you are not allowed to discriminate!
So…..if the School is LICENSED in the State of Florida, because it meets academic requirements, you have to include ALL STUDENTS…and in this time of ( dare I say it out loud?) DIVERSITY, you are going to have to include Christian, Catholic, Non-Sectarian Private Academies, Jewish private Temple schools….and yes, Muslim and Hindu schools ( and God forbid …Satanic Schools)…you can’t have it both ways with PUBLIC EDUCATION money, and not be INSTANTLY AFOUL of the US CONSTITUTION.
If it were me I would just use the money to assist middle and lower income families, with a reasonable cut off of maximum income ( not including Millionaires and Billionaires…they are getting enough tax cuts in the BIG BEAUTIFUL [disaster]of a BILL rammed through Congress this Summer under the “guise” of RECONCILIATION ). This poorly regulated FREE FOR ALL School Choice Program as it currently stands just robs local schools of needed funds to educate the public of any income level. This program in its current form is just ( in many cases), handing out “free money” with very little Educational accountability or financial oversight.
But…the Florida legislature opened that “can of worms,” now they need to be accountable for their decisions, or we as taxpayers are going to have to pay to defend these poorly thought out decisions in court , and of course it will be at TAXPAYERS EXPENSE paying the legal bills, as usual!
Wake up voters, if you believe many of these government representatives are putting the good of the “PEOPLE” first!
Laurel says
This current state and federal political administration has to be the dumbest f**kers to come down the pike! No respect for the Constitution at all. No thinking things out. No looking beyond their own noses.
How about getting religion out of our public taxes altogether? It’s offensive to me that any religion is be subsidized by my tax dollars. Y’all have a lot of nerve to do so!
Bo Peep says
Yeah WTF
PaulT says
After the open attacks on free speech and now this clear sign of religious predjudice from the DeSantis cabinet, I wonder whether these First Amendment haters of the ‘Christian’ right will have the courage to demand a revision of the Constitution to reflect their warped ‘American values’. ,
Jason says
Well, they aren’t wrong. Islamic law, commonly known as Shariah law, is 100% incompatible with the values, traditions, and the US Constitution.
Islamic law addresses issues ranging from personal conduct and family relations to criminal justice and economic transactions, making it a significant element of Islamic civilization and culture.
Like it or not, the US Constitution is heavily influenced by the Bible, The Magna Carta, and several other influential writings. One could make a good argument that the reason the US has been going through the tribulations it has over the last decades is directly related to more and more Americans turning their backs to God—which is their right.
But just as an Islamic nation would crumble from within if its citizens turned their backs to Alah and the Quran so too will the US crumble as more and more of its citizens embrace deviancy and shun the very foundation of our existence.
Pogo says
@Here, is a case
… where there’s little doubt about what Samuel Clemens would have opined:
I admire the serene assurance of those who have religious faith. It is wonderful to observe the calm confidence of a Christian with four aces.
— Mark Twain
A modest proposal, in other words, something repugnant to some fraction of some faction on every shore, cove, and sandbar of the great mainstream: education on comparative religion.
A man dreamed he was cat, who dreamed it was a man, who dreamed…
https://www.google.com/search?q=comparative+religion
No public funds for non public schools says
No public funds should be STOLEN from the local school districts and reallocated to fund “for profit”, private or religious schools, PERIOD, no matter what their affiliation.
It was just a matter of time that these fake Christians would show their true colors to push those funds toward so-called “acceptable” Christian schools rather than non-Christian schools. What is the definition of those Western Values that they say are being undermined? Certainly they are not referring to the Ten Commandments because they regularly violate several of them on daily basis, especially the bear false witness part. Those on the panel are just a bunch of biased, power hungry politicians doing whatever is necessary to continue to hold and gain power using fear tactics.
This is more than likely 1 of the reasons the Constitution set the Establishment Clause prevents the government from making a law related to “an establishment of religion,” which means that it cannot endorse a certain religion or become entangled in religious activities.
They are only pandering to their base of donors, which at the moment seems to be the religious right. How many times have you heard them refer to Sharia law to scare the public. Those in charge have developed quite a tool kit of information to keep the voters scared and to fall in line.
wow says
Anyone could have seen that coming. Freedom to choose religion as long as it’s my religion.
Skibum says
What is happening here in FL politics is exactly why religion and education should always be completely separate. This is why government should never be involved in any scheme to divert public tax dollars toward private, religious based “schools”, further eroding our public education system.
And this is why maga republi-con politicians can never be trusted to make our schools better and accessible to all students, because inevitably they will act like the American Taliban and steer public funding that is supposed to support everyone to their preferred “church” based indoctrination. Less math, science, history and English, more praying, memorizing 10 commandments posted in every classroom and selected bible lessons paid for by your tax dollars.
Fairness and equal access is thrown out the window, because students will be expected, forced actually, to only adhere to the approved and “acceptable” protestant religion, where they will be instructed that non-approved religious beliefs are just cults and “of the devil”, not to be practiced or tolerated in American religious indoctrination centers that once were part of this nation’s public school system.
What’s next? Female students will be forced to wear below the knee or ankle length dresses? Or will this be the first step in traditional republi-con plans to return females to their once traditional roles of staying in their homes, learning only cooking, cleaning sewing tasks from their mothers and prohibited from getting educated altogether because cooking food for their eventual husbands and making babies doesn’t require any special learning?
Can people NOT see the hypocrisy of the maga extremist republi-cons who denounce all Muslims, the Muslim religion and the very strict Taliban, but then turn right around while condemning them and turn America’s education system into a religious based system with strict rules and only allowing their acceptable version of religious teaching? Americans need to stand up to this nonsense and start demanding that our idiot politicians stop trying to make our schools become church schools!
Our great nation, our democratic republic and our U.S. Constitution is being jeopardized by a blatant rightwing extremist “Cristian” nationalist cult movement. They are NOT Christians. They care not “what would Jesus do?” They are power hungry extremists who want to convert every aspect of government, of education, and even corporations into their sphere of control in order to have more strict control over all of our lives. If we allow them to gain more and more control, this country as we know it will cease to exist when we end up resembling what the Taliban has for a religious government instead of the nation that was created in 1776 when we separated from British rule specifically because of the freedoms that our forefathers dreamed of for all U.S. citizens.
Steve says
Easiest way to fix this issue is to stop funding all religious schools. The government has no place in picking which religions can benefit from school fundings . This is so against the concept of separation of church and state. By picking and choosing which religious schools to support I.E. Christian schools only you are in effect establishing a state religion.
Jason says
@ Steve
If you are going to defund all non-public educational institutions then there will need to be some work done to remove politics from the public institutions as well. The reason my child is home schooled (We are not taking the scholarship funds) is directly related to two issues: 1) the onslaught of the LGBTQIA++ groups pushing, what I genuinely believe to be their “Religion”, into the public schools, 2) the behavioral issues that seem to start at BTMS I just couldn’t allow my child to be exposed to that.
So if you take the politics out of the school, the Religions, and figure out a way to make parents actually responsible for their kids and their lack of discipline then I’d happily send my child back to public school. But I cannot, in good conscious, send my child to a school that is has Administrators and Teachers that believe they have more rights to my child than I do.
FFS WAKE UP says
Jesus says STOP VOTING FOR REPUBLICANS!!!!
Deborah Coffey says
@ Jason
Do you have definitive proof of your claim: “the onslaught of the LGBTQIA++ groups pushing, what I genuinely believe to be their “Religion” is actually happening in our schools? I taught high school for 28 years both public and private. Never saw one bit of this.
Jason says
@ Deborah Coffey
As you already know it isn’t getting into the private schools for a few reasons. 1) Teachers Unions are pretty much nonexistent and powerless in private schools. 2) Most private schools are Catholic or Christian and they aren’t going to promote another religion in those institutions—and the Islamic Schools absolutely won’t be celebrating Pride Month either will they!
I had one child graduate from FPC and there were absolutely undertones being promoted. If teachers weren’t promoting this “religion” then it seems strange that the teachers and the teachers unions were so outspoken against the Parental Rights in Education law?
What year did you stop teaching? Did you teach at FPC or MHS? Do you believe parents should have have the right to make these decisions for their own kids or do you believe that the teachers, teachers unions, and administrators should be able to do whatever they want without parental oversight?
Laurel says
Jason: Being gay is not a religion. You have discredited yourself right there.
You have always had “parental rights,” it’s called PTA, weren’t you involved? It’s been available since I was a kid. This parental rights stuff is more cultural wars bait and you bit.
You have always had the right to opt out of public schools. I just shouldn’t have to pay for it.
CH says
I had kind of accepted that everybody pays taxes for public schools. It’s for the greater good and is for everyone in the community. Now, our tax dollars go to these voucher programs and only benefits the chosen ones. I don’t have children. Your children are not my responsibility. YOU pay for YOUR children to go to school.
JC says
Jason, no offence but the bible supports slavery in multiple verses…..If that is what your core beliefs are, then I’m good without it.
Jason says
@ JC
I am not proselytizing to you to follow any religion. I am simply stating what is factual as to the foundation of the United States Constitution. The foundational principles of our ,and most all “Western” societies, comes from the Bible. Basic human rights, fair trials, property, etc.. all can be traced back to the Bible. The Bible predates the Quran by roughly 500 years. Does that mean everyone has to be a Christian? No, no it doesn’t and not everyone in the Bible was either. If you genuinely are interested in our foundation as a country then you owe it to yourself to study the relevant writings from that time to better understand what the founders were thinking and using as the basis for their beliefs. Its fascinating.
You didn’t provide any specific Bible versus on slavery, but they do exist. However, I hope you’d agree that the context of those scriptures is extremely important and shouldn’t be taken out of context to justify acts of evil committed by MAN against GODs will. There are numerous references that MAN (Mankind/Humans) were created in GODs image. “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” – Genesis 1:27. Knowing that, the Bible also has numerous scriptures that command you to treat slaves with dignity and respect: “Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven” — Colossians 4:1. So, while the Bible doesn’t disavow slavery, it absolutely doesn’t justify inhumane treatment of slaves because ALL mankind is created in Gods image and must be treated as such. MAN and MAN alone is responsible for the atrocities of Chattel slavery (which I assume you are intending to reference as well).
Finally, I would challenge you on your stance of “…I’m good without it”. Without the US Constitution, there’d likely be no countries with the foundational freedoms that we enjoy. Our own neighbors to the North and South don’t even have an equivalently strong 1st Amendment right and neither does any other country in the world. You are well within your right in this country to voice your opinions, but regardless of your belief in the Bible or God, you benefit from Christianity in ways you may not be aware of. That is why I previously said that as more and more Americans turn their backs to the Christian values our country was founded on that we will eventually crumble. Even a militant Atheist such as Richard Dawkins knows his very existence is enabled by Christian principles. How many notable anti-Muslim voices do you know that also live in Islamic Nations without fear of death?
Skibum says
Jason, I am a Christian and both of my parents were ordained ministers in their church. But I still believe to this day that there must be a distinct separation between church theology and teachings, and our government’s statutory laws. A complete separation of government operations by and for the people, and an individual’s personal religious preferences, if any.
Your comment above about all our nation’s foundational principles and freedoms in the U.S. Constitution stemming from the Bible is inaccurate at best. The Bible is in no way “the” precursor of our nation’s laws. That notion may well be what some people say today and have said many times in the pasts, but saying it repeatedly doesn’t make it true.
Human beings have the capacity to be good, respectful, honest, helpful, lovable individuals without being religious if they choose not to adhere to any particular religion. People can treat others as they should, and obey society’s rules and laws without religion being involved at all. Man’s laws are just as valid, and diverse, as there are so many different cultures and races of people on this planet.
I think people get it very, very wrong when they try to pigeonhole all of humanity on the planet and all of the world’s various and diverse religious beliefs either being validated or dismissed based on what is in one particular religion’s book… “The Bible”, as if God hated diversity! There are so many variations of Christianity itself, then add all of the other world’s religions practiced by adherents. Do you really think ONLY those who follow what is in the Bible, out of 8.2 billion people on earth are correct and everyone else’s beliefs are wrong?
My point is that religion is so individualistic and personal… laws for society are NOT! They must, by description, pertain to ALL and everyone must be held to the same standard. That is exactly opposite of what should be personal religious beliefs. Otherwise, to take your views on religion to their logical conclusion, police would pull over a driver for violating a traffic law, or make an arrest and instead of citing a statutory law, the police officer would state that a certain religious law had been violated.
That is what happens in Iran with the religious police arresting women for not wearing head coverings. That is what happens in strict religious societies like where the Taliban have strict religious laws and arrest those who violate them.
That does NOT happen here in America, and is why our laws MUST be statutory and completely separate from religion, and any attempt to combine them together for whatever reason is wrong, wrong, wrong!
JC says
Jason, not going to respond to most of your comments since I was only talking about slavery in multiple verses where it is supported. I didn’t talk about the US Constitution, Islam, or the origins of a country.
Exod 21:2-11 was clear on the rules of owning slaves, including how to trick slaves to be forever slaves. Lev 25:44-46 also went on regarding slave ownership rules. Also the multiple verses where slaves are required to obey their masters are in Eph 6:5-9; Col 3:22-4:1; 1 Tim 6:1-2; Tit 2:9-10; and 1 Pet 2:18-20. You stated that slave owners must treat their property (which what the bible is clear on), but you completely miss the point: Owning slaves is super immortal and “God” didn’t have a problem with it, regardless what “God” say regarding image of man. Thank you for confirming that slavery wasn’t disallowed in the bible, which also brings up a major point: The bible was created by men, and written by men.
Now I am going to bring up the US Constitution since you brought it up. Any religious book should be followed cover to cover and being black/white, like a conservative judge reading the US Constitution. Since I read any religious book like a conservative judge, the text (regardless of what version the bible is) is clear that slavery is allowed, including why “God” is a giant prick. Talking about context is like listening to a liberal judge, there is no context since the text is clear and black/white. Now going to my only statement about Islam, I give them credit for following their Quran text cover to cover and black/white even if they act like animals just like early Christianity . Yes, this also includes chopping off hands if you steal.
Jason says
@ Skibum
The founders of our constitution were predominately Christian — even though they didn’t agree on all of it. Thomas Jefferson is a good example of that with his own version of the Bible that excluded most of the “miracles”. I never said the constitution was taken directly from the Bible, I am saying that some of the very core ideals from the Bible were inspirational and used as a foundational component to build on. Now, where I believe you are making a logical leap is that humanity could arrive at “morality” independently of religion. In all of the history of mankind, what society(s) can you point to as having independently come to a morality that you would find remotely acceptable to live in yourself? I don’t believe there is any society in history that didn’t develop a form of religion that guided their hands and from the beginning of man we have, and continue to, act savagely and without morality in face of man’s and Gods laws. So while it is a commonly repeated idea that morality doesn’t require religion to exist, there just isn’t much evidence to actually support that idea from our own history. I would concede that if you believe the Bible and God are not real then the morality that the Bible has influenced would technically not be by Gods hand…
To the separation of Church and State: The government isn’t allowed to force a Religion onto its citizens or make preferential laws towards one. However, just like with morality having its own “genesis”, our nations laws are absolutely based on foundational ideals that have a root from the Bible. Its no coincidence that our fundamental rights of Life, Liberty, and Property are enabled by laws that criminalize actions detrimental to those fundamental rights. They are, at their very core, inseparable. Which is why I keep saying that as more Americans move away from those Biblical principles that it will destroy this country. That is obviously what some people are salivating over but I am not one of them.
“Do you really think ONLY those who follow what is in the Bible, out of 8.2 billion people on earth are correct and everyone else’s beliefs are wrong?”
I never said they were wrong or right, but for certain, if there is a Christian God, then those 8.2 billion will not be saved if they reject him.
“My point is that religion is so individualistic and personal… laws for society are NOT”
You are making a great argument against Islamic (Sharia) law whether you intend to or not–and I agree with you entirely. Fact is, our laws are rooted in certain foundational principles that come from the Bible and those principles are actually great for everyone. Christians have a “personal” relationship with God, but the Bible is not a “living” document. If you are a Christian and warping the Bible to fit a personal narrative then you might be on the wrong path because the future has already been written…
Skibum says
Jason, from my own perspective as a born again Christian, how could anyone be accused of warping the Bible to fit a personal narrative when the Bible itself is an ancient text, originally written in another language, translated many, many times over centuries by mere mortals with the personal bent and belief system of each one? Then, taught by other mere mortals in lands far and wide to other mere mortals with their own various and individual beliefs relating to the scriptures. As more time passed, churches established and eventually broke off into many other variations with sometimes similar, sometimes a very different take on the meaning of what is in the Bible. Translated some more, other churches formed or broken off because of specific beliefs… like the ones who use live, poisonous snakes in their service specifically because of one or just a few scriptures that adherents believe tell them they will not be harmed by handling poisonous “serpents” if they are true believers.
It is impossible, centuries after Jesus walked the earth, to now in the year 2025 to say anyone at all who is alive have the correct meaning, let alone translation, of what was in the original scriptures. It is equally unjust and ridiculous for anyone to believe that so many of this planet’s 82 billion people will not be saved regardless of their age at death, regardless of how good of a life they led treating others as they would like to be treated, etc.
You are free to believe whatever you like about what the Bible says, but you should at least recognize the difficulty of accurate and proper translation of earlier translations of even earlier translations, all in various languages of an ancient text from a foreign land. Have you never been involved in the very telling activity where you are among a group of people in a room, you are handed a piece of paper with a short story… you whisper what you read to the next person, who whispers it to the next and so on? By the time it gets told to 20 or so people, the last person stands up and tells the entire group what they were told. And lo and behold, the story has warped into something usually completely different from the original story.
If you are not able to imaging the original scriptures being changed by mere mortals, or having difficulty with translating from one language into another, or any number of challenges trying to get the original meaning from something so old when the people who originated the texts are no longer around, you are bound to make mistakes or have incorrect beliefs about intent, and I’ll leave it at that.
Jason says
@ Skibum
You should look into the NASB translation of the Bible. It is considered to be the most accurate translation.
What I meant by warping the Bible to fit a personal narrative is when Churches or individuals actively do what scripture explicitly says not to do. They justify their sins as as if God put an expiration date on certain scriptures. I don’t believe those “Christian’s” will be able to defend themselves when the times comes…
Pogo says
@A bunch of monkey’s uncles
… arguing about who sits at the head of the table.
Okay, continue.
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
— Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night
I wish that people who are conventionally supposed to love each other would say to each other, when they fight, ‘Please – a little less love, and a little more common decency.’
— Kurt Vonnegut, Slapstick, or Lonesome No More