Florida's Voucher Problem
The money's not adding up - for public or private schools
Florida’s got a money problem.
It seems both public and private schools aren’t getting paid for the kids they are educating.
At least, the money is not flowing with the kids in a timely fashion.
The rapid expansion of the state’s School Choice scholarship program burrowed a $47 million hole in the Florida Department of Education’s budget and left public and private schools complaining they aren’t getting properly paid.
Money problems that arose during the 2024-2025 school year can largely be attributed to the mobility that students enjoy to shift from public to private or to home education freely, said Adam Emerson, director of the Department of Education Office of School Choice.
Fluctuations caused by students moving from public to private schools (or from private to public) in the middle of a school year mean payments from the state don’t always match enrollment.
One public school official explained the impact:
Scott Ward, chief financial officer for Lake County schools, said that in the middle of the school year the district had to reduce its budget by $16 million “without any real notification.” That amount, he said, “would probably be a 3.5% raise to our teachers that we wouldn’t be allowed to give because we had to cut our budget.”
Private schools that accept students using vouchers also face challenges:
Keva Hampton, head of Inner City Christian School in Jacksonville, stood before the subcommittee to describe her school’s and other private schools’ experiences, including “chronic payment delays, fluctuating scholarship amounts, technical failures, lack of consistent communication, and we can go on.”
Other states with universal voucher schemes (like the one now in effect in Tennessee) also report challenges with administration of the program:
A man from Florida gained access to the state’s ESA voucher funds by indicating he had children in school in the state. Of course, he didn’t - these ghost kids, though, netted him as much as 25,000.