The Senate’s plan to address the school choice voucher system’s shortfalls was made public Friday.
“A myriad of accountability problems” went on display this week when two legislative committees reacted to an independent audit showing “funding did not follow the child” to private schools or homeschool. Now, Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Crestview, has put out his chamber’s plan, co-sponsored by the chairs of both Senate education committees.
‘Funding did not follow the child’: State audit displays school choice woes
In the nearly 150-page bill, SB 318, Gaetz, a former school district superintendent, touches concerns raised by school districts, parents, private schools, and scholarship funding organizations.
“As the Auditor General has made clear, the architecture of our current funding system has scrambled together the funds for public schools, private schools, home schooling and unique ability scholarships and then the Department and the Scholarship Funding Organizations have to unscramble upwards of $4 billion and send the right amounts to the right places for the right students at the right times. No wonder there are problems,” the Senate president’s office said in releasing Gaetz’s bill.
The bill establishes:
Additionally, the bill would provide the state access to scholarship funding organizations’ databases. After each verification of student locations, the list of students must be provided to the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the chair of the House Budget Committee, and the office of the governor.
Gaetz served as Senate president from 2012 through 2014.
The Senate plan would require the Department of Education to investigate written complaints from parents, students, and schools regarding school choice laws and investigate fraudulent activity and overpayment, and refer them to the Department of Financial Services for potential criminal investigation.
Private schools that do not properly attest that a child attends their school could be investigated for fraud and would have to repay the funds, according to the bill.
During a committee meeting this week, Gaetz acknowledged his bill is not “perfect,” but said it fixes “issues, which, left unaddressed, will continue to worsen and threaten to disrupt and imperil school choice in Florida.”
The department would be required to develop a uniform reimbursement and invoicing process and create stricter application windows for scholarships, addressing a concern Rep. Toby Overdorf, R-Palm City, among several other representatives, shared last month.
The bill would requires all students including those attending private schools, to be tracked with Florida Education Identifier numbers, unique to each student, to better check the location of students, a focal point for Reps. John Snyder, R-Stuart, and Fiona McFarland, R-Sarasota. Under the existing model, not all non-public school students were being tracked with those numbers, making verification of student information a heavier lift.
The Phoenix reported this week the House and Senate, while both acknowledging the problems with the program, are not entirely on the same page, particularly whether to separate the school choice programs from the school funding model.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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rjckeuka4
Our Republican legislators want to fund private education for the children of all the rich folks out there and the hell with all those other kids! So, what if a few billion dollars are "misplaced" in the process!
Wednesday, November 26, 2025 Report this
Graciela0107
The premise of this nation is to offer FREE public education to all children in this country. That is what Horace Mann fought for and made a reality since the early 19th century. To take money away to give vouchers to those who choose to send their children to private schools or to homeschool is a travesty. That money should be spent on improving facilities (mold at LWR HS???), obtaining more resources for students and improving teachers pay. The Florida legislature has a lot of work to do to reverse this huge error.
Wednesday, November 26, 2025 Report this
san.gander
I strongly object to any voucher program that funds children attending private school or religious schools. Taxpayers should not have to pay for schools that teach values or morals contrary to accepted or desired community standards.
In this country, in our public schools we teach ALL are equal, all, are to be accepted... all - boys, girls, men, women, races, religions, able-bodied and disabled, etc. The private and religious schools do not abide by this standard and are not required to. They have that right under the "freedom of religion" shield of our Constitution. Let them fund their biases!
But they do not have a right to taxpayer money, which is for the support of public education, whose doors are opened for all.
Wednesday, November 26, 2025 Report this