Florida lawmakers are trying to revise school funding in the wake of what’s known as universal school choice. That law has made all Florida students eligible for scholarships to private schools and home schooling. But since then, it’s been hard for the money to follow the students as intended.
Under a law passed two years ago, Florida tax dollars can go to private schools in the form of scholarships. The problems come when students switch from private schools to public ones. If they change their minds during the school year, the money doesn’t follow them. And the public schools do the work without getting paid for it.
Crestview Republican Sen. Don Gaetz says that in the new environment the state’s funding system has been overtaken by change.
“And the change is Florida’s policy of allowing parents to choose their school, public or private or home school, and then allowing money – the money that is designated for the education of their child – to follow the child to where she or he is being educated," he said. "And so today, Mr. Chair, we have 543,000 students in scholarship programs.”
Sixteen percent of the school-age children in Florida are involved in the scholarship programs, Gaetz told the Senate Pre-K-12 Education Appropriations Committee, amounting to $4 billion this year. Forty-five of the state’s 67 school districts have declining enrollment, he added, while private and home schools are expanding with scholarship students.
“And these trends are not expected to change," he said. "So, our funding system has to change. We can’t just send the money to the school district, hoping that it will all work out, because students – thousands and thousand and thousands more each year – are leaving the neighborhood public school option and going to one of the other options that is now provided for in law.”
A proposal (SB 7030) would tighten the funding options for students. Rather than having a period of open enrollment throughout the year, they could enroll only in the spring and the fall. The bill would create what is known as a “categorical” budget fund for the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, with funds earmarked for specific programs.
Additionally, the measure would use identification numbers to track students and background checks to ensure that those receiving taxpayer funds are entitled to do so.
But Tamarac Democratic Sen. Rosalind Osgood is dubious. While her grandchildren are home-schooled, a choice she supports, Osgood voted no on the proposal.
“And I’m going to keep voting no on these things until we look at the public school system in the same way, and how we can fix it," she said. "If I’m in private school, I don’t get free lunch, free transportation and free activity fees. I get that in the public school system. If I’m in the charter school, I get some services and not the others.”
Committee Chair Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, is positive about the bill.
“This is incredibly necessary after having seen second- and third-order consequences of moving fast," he said. "How we can make sure that we balance efficiencies and accountabilities and get this right.”
Still, he acknowledged, the choice program needs funding changes in order to ensure it doesn’t run out of money and remains viable long-term.
“This is a big deal," Burgess said. "And I really believe that what we have before us is an attempt to save this program so that it lasts, and that it fulfills its promise for families that want to take advantage of it.”
The committee passed the bill 8-1, with Osgood the sole dissenting vote.
It is slated for consideration Wednesday by the Appropriation Committee.
