The Orlando Sentinel reported that the $8,000 voucher handed out to every student in a non-public school may be used for non-educational purchases. Florida endorsed universal vouchers so family income doesn’t matter. Rich families get vouchers too just so long as their children do not attend a public school.
As Florida lawmakers expanded eligibility for school vouchers this year, they also gave parents more ways to spend the money.
Theme park passes, 55-inch TVs, and stand-up paddleboards are among the approved items that recipients can buy to use at home. The purchases can be made by parents who home-school their children or send them to private schools, if any voucher money remains after paying tuition and fees.
The items appear in a list of authorized expenses in a 13-page purchasing guide published this summer by Step Up For Students, the scholarship funding organization that manages the bulk of Florida’s vouchers. Many of the items are similar to what was permitted for vouchers to students with disabilities in the past, but now they’re available to anyone who receives an award of about $8,000.
The list quickly raised eyebrows as it circulated.
“If we saw school districts spending money like that, we would be outraged,” said Damaris Allen, executive director of Families for Strong Public Schools, who recently started speaking out publicly on the issue. “We want to be conservative with our tax dollars. We want to be sure it is being used for worthwhile things.”
By comparison, Allen and others noted, teachers who want some of the same items for their classrooms would have to pay out-of-pocket or turn to other fundraising sources such as GoFundMe because schools won’t pay for them…
Supporters of the expansion don’t consider the program as wasting taxpayer money. They see it as allowing families to customize education according to their children’s interests.
“We need to stop thinking like it’s 1960 — that the only answer is four walls with traditional districts leading the charge,” Jeanne Allen, founder of the national Center for Education Reform, said in an email.
As long as the money goes anywhere but public education, it’s a big win for the Destroyers Of Public Education (DOPEs).
Bandopes: Dopes who are making out like bandits.
DeDopes
DeDupes are deDopes
“DeSantis” they votes
lol
The so-called conservatives are reckless, wasteful spenders. Without any accountability measures, there is no way to confirm that allocated funds are used the way they were intended. There is maximum opportunity for grifters and con artists to take advantage in the same way that Covid funds were misused by fraudsters. ‘The Tallahassee Democrat’ believes that the cost of these vouchers may cost the public more than $2 billion for this year. DeSantis may soon see the big budget surplus he brags about turn into a deficit.
“The so-called conservatives are . . . not conservative but are for the most part reactionary xtian theofascists.”
Call a spade a spade.
So paying everyone not to attend public schools? Sounds like fantastic public policy.
Meanwhile, in the so-called “Sunshine state” that always prided itself on its transparency via its “Sunshine Laws,” the good ole boy cronies of DeSatan in the legislature have passed laws to hide the costs to taxpayers of his travel.
My God! Can you just imagine just for a minute the grift and waste that would go on in the Administration of a DeSantis presidency? I know, I know, Trump is the King of the Con, but it was mostly for him. DeSantis invites all the hogs to the trough and then gives them a list of what else they can get.
yup
DeSantis received millions of dollars in campaign donations from Florida Power and Light, and within the next few months utility rates from FP&L increased 20%. DeSantis is looking out for donors, not the people.
“ “We want to be conservative with our tax dollars. We want to be sure it is being used for worthwhile things.” “
Anyone who sees the modern Republicans as conservatives when it comes to spending should immediately remove the idea from their consciousness or rather their lack thereof. Trump has taken the party (if it actually can be called that) so far from fiscal conservatism that it is laughable to suggest that.
Republican presidents have a way of doubling the debt during their terms, don’t they?
I’m not surprised. As long as the money doesn’t go to public schools or queer people or health care, they don’t care what happens to it.
How about teen prostitutes?
Do the vouchers cover that?
At least one of Florida’s Republican reps would prolly be interested if they do.
Just ridiculous.
That *”… a home school family may incorporate ‘all the different history and culture lessons available at Disney World,'” is mockery. Culture lessons at Disney World? Was that at the Humunga Kowabunga ride or the Seven Dwarfs ride? History lessons? Is that what happens at the Country Bear Jamboree? What a joke. What a horrible joke. This story needs but a Florida man arrested for using his voucher to pay for removal of a gator from his private parts.
“all the different history and culture lessons available at Disney World,’”
Just don’t say “gay culture”
Vouchers for Disney Tickets?
If Cinderella’s bi
And Minnie Mouse a guy
And Mickey Mouse is gay
Will Ronny’s vouchers pay?
Vouchers for Disney Tickets? (2)
If Sleeping Beauty’s trans
And Goofy is a Queer
And Ariel a man
Will Ronny let kids near?
My brother in law’s father grew up in north Florida. He was the 12th of 17 kids if I remember.His older brother sent him to college and he studied journalism and ended up editor of The Atlanta Journal. My brother in law went to public schools in Georgia and to the university there. Then he graduated from Harvard Law. Public schools in the South, while unequal, were often outstanding. My kids went to public schools in Little Rock and they are now both chemists. My son passed 4 AP classes well enough for college credit though they wanted to put him in jail for tardiness…