Nearly 123,000 new students have received private-school vouchers after state lawmakers this year passed a major expansion of voucher programs, while a group that administers the programs says they will not bring an “exodus” from public schools as critics have predicted.
As of Sept. 8, 242,929 students had enrolled in 2,098 private schools using vouchers through the state’s two main programs, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and Family Empowerment Scholarship, according to a report by Step Up for Students, an organization that administers the vast majority of vouchers in the state.
That is an increase from the roughly 170,000 students who received vouchers through the programs during the 2022-2023 school year.
Of the nearly 243,000 students this year, 122,895 “are new to the programs,” though many had already been enrolled in private schools, according to Step Up for Students.
“Of the 122,895 new students, 84,505 (69%) were already in private school, 16,096 (13%) came from public schools, and 22,294 are entering kindergartners,” the report released Wednesday said. “Does 16,096 represent an ‘exodus’ from the public schools as critics forecast HB 1 (the bill that included the expansion) would cause?”
As the bill was debated during this year’s legislative session, Democrats and other critics argued that such an expansion of the voucher programs would lead to large numbers of students exiting traditional public schools.
While Step Up for Students pushed back against the criticism, the non-profit Florida Policy Institute raised concerns about some of the newly released data.
“As we continue to analyze the data provided by Step-Up For Students, what initially stands out is that roughly 7 in 10 new scholarship awards are going to students already enrolled in private school, at what FPI (Florida Policy Institute) estimates is a $676 million cost to the state,” the Florida Policy Institute, which strenuously opposed the voucher expansion, said in a statement Thursday.
The non-profit added that the voucher “money is going to subsidize tuition that families were already paying, an average of $8,000, that they can now use for other purposes.”
The Florida Policy Institute and dozens of other groups wrote a letter to state education officials Wednesday asking for “transparency” on the voucher programs. Step Up for Students released a report responding to the inquiry.
The expansion, in part, involved eliminating income-eligibility requirements for receiving vouchers.
The report said that 27 percent of the voucher students enrolled this year in private schools are from households with incomes above $120,000 — which is 400 percent of the federal poverty level for families of four — or from families who “did not submit income information.” About 29 percent are from families whose incomes are between 185 percent and 400 percent of poverty level, which would include household incomes of up to $120,000 for families of four. Another 44 percent are from families below 185 percent of the federal poverty level, or $55,000 in income for a family of four.
Meanwhile, the state’s voucher program that serves students with special needs, called the Family Empowerment Scholarships for Students with Unique Abilities, also has grown. Step Up for Students reported that 79,035 students have been awarded the scholarships, compared to about 70,000 last year.
Step Up for Students also said that the number of students enrolled in the voucher programs this year has not surpassed an amount of money set aside in the state budget. The organization said that the budget “assumed” 261,324 students would receive vouchers through the programs for the broader population of students and 93,357 students would with vouchers through the program for students with special needs.
Lawmakers held some additional money in reserve in case costs exceeded the budgeted amount.
“Since enrollments are currently trending below this line, it appears unlikely at this time that the state will need to dip into the extra funds set aside to support public and private school enrollments,” Step Up for Students said.
The organization noted that it has received applications for 353,425 vouchers for the Tax Credit and Family Empowerment scholarships, and has “awarded” 340,731 vouchers. But not all of the awarded vouchers will be used.
“It is important to note that Awarded only means a student was found eligible to receive a scholarship. It does not mean that all Awarded scholarships are used (and therefore funded). Every year there are more Awarded scholarships than there are Enrolled/Funded,” the organization said.
Another change that came with this year’s expansion allowed homeschooled students to receive vouchers.
The law created what is known as the Personalized Education Program, which the state Department of Education’s website said was “created to serve Florida’s home education population who would like access to an education saving account to fund their student’s learning.”
According to Step Up for Students, 15,097 homeschooled students have enrolled in the new program.
The Florida Policy Institute has estimated that the state’s expanded voucher program will carry a $4.2 billion price tag, but Step Up for Students this week disputed that estimate.
“Assuming all students currently enrolled remain enrolled, the value of all scholarships will be about $2.8 billion, or about $1.4 billion short (33%) of FPI’s (Florida Policy Institute’s) current estimate. That is a significant gap,” the organization said.
The data published by Step Up for Students did not include information about the race and ethnicity of voucher recipients. The organization said such data “would be forthcoming, but not until enrollments in private schools stabilized sometime after the first week of September, which would make for a larger and more representative database.”
In its response to the newly published data, the Florida Policy Institute questioned why the report was not provided by the state education department, to which its inquiries were addressed.
“It is the responsibility of the FLDOE (Department of Education), the steward of taxpayer dollars and the department to which our letter was addressed, to proactively publish data as outlined in HB 1,” the non-profit said.
–Ryan Dailey, News Service of Florida
Endless Dark money says
So how will the public schools make up the budgetshortfalls since they are already lacking proper funding?
Go back north says
It’s not at public expense as they only get what would have been paid out in public schools. Is this one of those crying souls that think every child but their own should be in public school so their child can get a better education. The money should follow the child not the system.
Endless Dark money says
BS!! haha like most parents can afford to pay for school on top of everything else? this isnt 1965 anymore. Wages havent hardly budged in decades. Schools are alredy underfunded so I ask whats the republican plan to make up the shortfall of all those public dollars now going to shareholders. Oh there isnt one cause you dont care about kids and are intellectually bankrupt. So in your opinion public dollars should support the pro nazi school in jacksonville with zero academic standards?
Deborah Coffey says
Vomitous. Infuriating. And, destructive. The Christian Nationalists will be on the rise in short order as will the end of democracy in America. Nazi Germany would be so proud.
Edith Campins says
So our taxes are going to pay for people sending their children to private schools. Remember there is no income qualification for the vouchers. It just means that if you’re already sending your child to private school now the taxpayer will pay for it.
Tired of it says
And your tax dollars, that pay for vouchers can now be used for Disney tickets.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article278868324.html
Deirdre says
Will private schools be held to the same standards as public schools? They should be, if they’re taking money away from the people who most need it.
Obviously, public schools can’t afford for their resources to be lost, especially in impoverished areas, they will have to make up the money somewhere, such as deleting elective classes like art.
I worked in a private school, besides very rich and religious people, some parents will put children with serious behavior problems in private schools, as they blame public schools for their kids problems. Good luck with that!
The dude says
“Will private schools be held to the same standards as public schools?”
No.
And that’s the point.
Laurel says
Unfortunately, there is no report in this article on the number of private schools which are religious. Our government should not be paying for religious teaching.
Jim says
Well, I’m glad Florida is going to give over $1B to private schools through this program. We certainly don’t need to be putting that money into a school system that’s rated 40th out of 50 states! Things will get better now!
And isn’t it wonderful that the estimated figures for this program were not available until after they knew how many new participants they were going to have? I remember when this was passed, the question was how much will this cost and I never saw any information answering that question – until now.
And I’m glad the higher income families in Florida will be able to take advantage of this help. God knows they need it.
JimboXYZ says
Just the stats of 50 states, somebody has to be ranked 40th out of 50 states, even 10th or any other ranked number. End of the day, I realized early on, in college that the knowledge is the text books that are used, just like what is taught K-12. They all use the same text books, the same syllabus for a semester for that textbook & core base of knowledge. Sooner or later the parent & student needs to crack the books & learn that. There are no shortcuts to learning & throwing more money at children that are more concerned with being proficient at putting a ball in a hoop are going to be the stupid ones in a world that intellectually has always gone beyond playing with balls on a playground. There are just not enough roster spots on professional sports teams to go around. All those eggs in one basket and K-12 is a blown opportunity at options in life to succeed.
As for the money, whether it’s taxpayer money or inflation for products & services. If one can’t figure out the wealth transfers are for paying for this, those adults must be the one’s that were too dumb to learn the math, English, music or whatever else required to succeed in their own childhoods. The voucher system to an extent still has it’s distribution of educational fail, be it FL or anywhere else USA, education only costs more for it. In the end, every parent & child needs to look in the mirror every AM and see who is accountable or responsible for learning. If shooting a basketball for repetition is how one has a shot at being a professional athlete. Doing math & English, even music involves that same hours of dedication & repetition. Everyone admired Eddie Van Halen for his talent, wondered how he ever did it. Yet too many lack that dedication & focus to be that proficient at their profession.
The dude says
40th?
That’s a much higher ranking than I would’ve guessed.
Just me says
Every child deserves a quality education. If they are not getting that in Public schools, they deserve to go to a school that will provide it. If I had children of school age, I would definitely NOT want them going to low score public schools. Maybe it’s time to straighten up the public school system or don’t complain. This is a win win for all the children in Florida. Excellent news!
Tired of it says
Did you know:
Education.
“Florida’s private schools issue independent school diplomas that do not require approval from the state of Florida.
Florida’s private schools establish their own system of school accountability, grading, reporting, and evaluating and are not included in the state’s measurement of public schools.”
So much for a quality education.
jake says
“Another change that came with this year’s expansion allowed homeschooled students to receive vouchers.
The law created what is known as the Personalized Education Program, which the state Department of Education’s website said was “created to serve Florida’s home education population who would like access to an education saving account to fund their student’s learning.”
According to Step Up for Students, 15,097 homeschooled students have enrolled in the new program.”
None of you noticed that home schooled students will also receive vouchers, because you’re too busy denigrating private religious schools. I work with a guy who home schools his four children and will receive over $30,000, PER YEAR. Based on this article the state will give out over 116 MILLION Dollars to home schooled children. Maybe if schools actually taught math, science, English, history, computer science and physical education, we could produce useful adults for the future. Today’s schools are so stuck in turmoil and gender identification nothing gets accomplished. Flagler County is the perfect example of this.
Tired of it says
And of course, the guy who is home schooling his children is teaching them: “English, history, computer science and physical education” and science and geography and literature and math…sure.
Bob J says
At least the home school students are probably being taught real history. Not the crap in the school system now.
jake says
There is a prescribed state curriculum, and the children have to pass state approved tests. None of the children have attended public school and all are one to two years ahead of their age group.
In spite of all of this, I do not approve of the voucher system, not for home schooled or private schools.
Atwp says
My tax dollars going to private schools. How many people of color are being helped from my dollars. Knowing this state very little to none. Whites always have the advantage even at the cost of my black tax dollars. Knowing this state I believe the private schools will do all they can to keep my people out but gladly take my black tax dollars.
Deirdre says
Note: the following comment is incorrect. US News ranked Florida #1 in higher education, not in K-12–FL.
Someone said Florida public schools are 40 out of 50 in America? Noooo, I looked it up, no one gives Florida anything but great marks.
In 2023 – FLORIDA IS RANKED AS NUMBER ONE STATE FOR EDUCATION BY U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT.
Yes, I do know private schools don’t have to live to the same standards as public schools, that won’t change even though they are getting more money, a lot more. Makes Florida look even better when students appear to be more successful because they’re not using the same measurements for accountability.
Deirdre says
Apologies for the inaccuracy in my previous comment, when I googled it all I saw was #1 and didn’t look more carefully.
This should be correct;
Looking at Pre-K-12, Florida’s US News rankings had solid scores in high-school graduation rates, though the state came in 14th overall when adding in measures such as college readiness, reading and math scores, and preschool enrollment.
It’s not 30 out of 40, we’re doing well and that’s the point.
Deirdre says
More statistics – for the 2023-24 school year, there are 13 public schools serving 13,131 students in Flagler School District. This district’s average testing ranking is 8/10, which is in the top 30% of public schools in Florida.
So, Florida state schools are the best in the nation, and Flagler County Schools are among the best of the Florida.
Let’s see if losing all that money is going to impact the hard work and success our schools have had, I think it will.
If anyone questions these facts just google it.