At the urging of Governor DeSantis, Florida’s legislature rubber stamped his proposal to expand vouchers to all students in the state without income restrictions. As Leslie Postal reported in The Orlando Sentinel, demand for vouchers in the state surged by 44%. Many of the applicants are already enrolled in private and religious schools. In other states where vouchers were made universal, most of the vouchers were claimed by students who never attended public schools. Thus, instead of “saving poor kids from failing public schools,” vouchers have become a subsidy for affluent families.
Postal writes:
The number of Florida students awarded school vouchers jumped by more than 117,500 this year, mostly due to a new state law that made all students eligible for scholarship programs once targeted to low-income children.
By Aug. 11, more than 382,000 students had received vouchers for the 2023-24 school year, giving them access to money for private school tuition, homeschooling services or therapies for children with disabilities, according to Step Up For Students, the private group that administers most of Florida’s scholarship programs.
That represents a 44% increase from a year ago when about 264,400 scholarships were awarded by the same date….
The scholarships are worth an average of about $7,800 a year, though actual amounts vary by student’s grade level and by county. The voucher programs are still required to prioritize giving awards to children whose families earn no more than 185% of the federal poverty limit, or a family of four earning $55,000 a year or less. But everyone, whether middle class or very rich, is now eligible to apply….
The hike in scholarships was expected after Gov. Ron DeSantis in March signed the new law, which he called a “major game changer” that would boost educational options for families. The law was celebrated by GOP leaders, school choice advocates and parents already paying for private school who are now eligible for state assistance.
They argued families who never opted for free public schools still pay school taxes and so it makes sense to provide them school vouchers to help offset private school costs.
This week, the Archdiocese of Miami credited the new law with boosting enrollment at its Catholic schools and creating waitlists at some campuses. “Step Up Blew Up,” it wrote on its website, like many, using Step Up as shorthand for Florida’s school scholarship programs.
The archdiocese noted that at one Catholic school in Coral Gables, with about 900 students, the number of families receiving state scholarships leapt from 160 last year to more than 560 this year.
But the new law also faces fierce critics. They worry its price tag — one estimate says it will cost the state $4 billion in its first years — will devastate public school budgets and dislike that private schools that take vouchers face little regulation from the state.
“The public dollars that they have given to private schools, those are our public school dollars that they are now giving to people to go to a private school,” Castor Dentel said. “Those are public school dollars they are now handling over to unaccountable private schools where you don’t have to have a qualified teacher.”
Private schools that take state vouchers are mostly religious schools, and they make their own decisions as far as teacher qualifications, curriculum and facilities. Some have hired teachers without college degrees and employees with criminal convictions, set up in rundown buildings and offered curriculum outside mainstream academics, the Orlando Sentinel has reported.
Providing scholarships to families whose children already were in private school or were being homeschooled “is absolutely taking away from public school dollars,” said Norin Dollard, a senior policy analyst with the Florida Policy Institute, a progressive think tank that warned back in February that the new law would cost the state billions of dollars.
Dollard said the state earmarked about $3.3 billion for all its scholarship programs this school year and likely will run through that by the end of October, given the number of awards announced so far.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Universal vouchers are a massive transfer of wealth that forces the poor and working class to subsidize the affluent. It enables the vandalization of the common good while benefiting a few at the expense of many. Universal vouchers are anti-democratic policy.
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Yes, universal vouchers are indeed frauds and is being used to ‘take down’ public education. Same with Charters. Both are BAD and does nothing to promote democracy, which is what the far right wants. The far right looks at everything as property that’s ‘for profit”…SICK.
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Private dollars converted to
public dollars, via the tax
and transfer policies, are
converted back to private
dollars
via the voucher system.
The reconverted dollars
land in the private pockets
of the believers.
Belief (accept something as true)
schools compete for believers.
While belief in Public Schools
and Public School Teachers is
not known as a religion, it
still rests on belief.
Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof…
Congress shall make laws
respecting an establishment
of beliefs.
The difference between a religion
and a belief is found in the
results.
Do ya feel saved?
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Dear Ms. Ravitch.
The increase in vouchers in Florida, mentioned in one of your recent posts, is additional evidence that this trend will continue to sweep the nation.
I renew my request that you lead your fellow educators and advocates for community public schools to consider action in the form of putting my education model to the test in some of the classrooms of our nation’s struggling elementary schools. My model is intended to empower and support teachers as they do one of the most important jobs in society.
Nothing will slow the spread of “school choice” until educators acknowledge the movement is driven by widespread dissatisfaction with public education. It may not be fair or justified dissatisfaction, but it is real, nevertheless. It will not cease until community public schools improve their outcomes.
Changes in Implementation Plan
Based on feedback I have received from a few educators; I am making some modifications to the implementation plan for my model to address two concerns I am hearing.
The first is, rather than test the model in the K to 2 classrooms of a school, which requires a substantial commitment at the outset, I will be recommending that schools (just one school per district) test my model in only the kindergarten classrooms of the schools selected.
Second, rather than recommend that those teachers and students be kept together all the way through their sixth year (what we now refer to as fifth grade), that they be kept together for their first three years (what we now refer to as K to 2). After that first three years, I believe schools will be in a position to evaluate the efficacy of my model and, thus, choose whether to continue keeping those teachers and students together or re-assign them.
The latter option might best be accomplished by keeping the kids together but assigning a new team of teachers better qualified to guide their students through years 4, 5, and 6. The alternative would be dispersingthe students throughout the school.
Implementing my model in only the kindergarten classrooms of struggling schools will make it an even better investment compared to increasing dollars invested in vouchers. The former is an investment in the intellectual infrastructure of our nation and vouchers will remainan expense. Some might say the latter is “throwing good money after bad.”
Please consider rallying your influential colleagues and community school leaders to actively approach districts with struggling elementary schools to put my model to the test. Imagine the impact when these schools begin to demonstrate substantially higher academic achievement than all other schools. Let me remind you, I intend to make the model available free of charge.
Once, again, thanks for listening and I look forward to the opportunity to discuss my model with you and a few of your colleagues.
Sincerely,
Mel Hawkins MSEd, MPA
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Let’s say a parent pays property tax of $5000 a year and that 25% of that goes to public education in her community. If she opts for a voucher, grant a rebate of $1250, no matter the number of kids she has.
The argument these folks make is they don’t use public schools, so they shouldn’t be taxed for them, yet they want a return of much, much more than they contribute.
People don’t get rebates because when their house doesn’t burn down, they don’t use the fire department. They don’t get rebates because there are some public roads they don’t drive on. They don’t get rebates because they don’t take their kids to the public libraries or public parks.
This is what’s on offer to the public that benefits the whole community. No one gets a refund because they don’t make use of those services.
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