Florida's Folly
State that lost track of 30,000 kids opts in to Trump's scheme to privatize public schools
On the heels of the release of a congressional report on the dangers of school vouchers, Florida announced it is opting in to Donald Trump’s private school coupon scheme.
In an announcement touted by the state’s voucher administrator, Gov. Ron DeSantis noted his enthusiasm for the Trump scheme.
The federal program, which will launch in 2027, is designed to bring education choice to families across the country. In doing so, it will give families from coast to coast what those in Florida have enjoyed for more than 20 years – the final word in the education of their children.
“The great stuff we’re doing here probably is going to be pretty groundbreaking in states that have not yet gone down the road of school choice,” DeSantis said. “But here we are, further empowering residents and families to be able to make the most around the country.”
One example of the “great” stuff Florida is doing is losing track of some 30,000 students.
After Florida cleared the way in 2023 for any family in the state to get a taxpayer-funded school voucher regardless of income, students signed up in droves. Enrollment in the voucher program has almost doubled to half a million children.
But by the end of the 2024-25 school year, the program cost $398 million more than expected, according to a recently released report from Florida’s auditor general. And when students switched between public schools and voucher-funded programs, tax dollars did not move with them as lawmakers had promised.
On any given day, Florida’s education department did not know where 30,000 students were going to school and could not account for the $270 million in taxpayer funds it took to support them, according to the state Senate Appropriations Committee on Pre-K-12 Education.
Lost students. Lost education revenue. Higher taxes for the same or less service.
That’s the promise of vouchers. That’s what Ron DeSantis calls “great stuff.”
Make no mistake - vouchers decimate local school budgets.
As one Florida policymaker noted, when it comes to education funding, “the voucher budget is winning.”
Florida is an example of vouchers gone wild - eating up billions of state dollars while landing Florida disappointing results in the NAEP.
An analysis of the Sunshine State’s private school voucher program reveals the total cost to taxpayers is $3.9 billion annually.
The Education Law Center in conjunction with the Florida Policy Institute conducted the analysis of the state’s school voucher program. The results of the study show the cost of vouchers growing steadily. Vouchers now consume 23% of state education dollars, up from just 12% in the 2021-22 school year.