TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – The Florida Senate approved legislation Wednesday aimed at improving transparency and efficiency in the state’s school choice scholarship programs after an audit revealed the state cannot account for more than $270 million in funding.
Senate Bill 318, sponsored by Senator Don Gaetz, addresses several issues identified in a state audit of the universal school voucher program. The reforms now head to the House for consideration.
The audit found the state cannot locate 30,000 students taxpayers are funding, up from 23,000 students last year. Additionally, $100 million that should have been paid to public schools was improperly paid for scholarships.
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“We are all proud that Florida leads the nation in parental choice in education,” said Senator Danny Burgess, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee on Pre-K-12 Education. “However, to ensure our school choice programs live up to their full potential and promise, there are challenges we need to address.”
The legislation creates a separate categorical fund for Family Empowerment Scholarships within the Florida Education Finance Program, removing scholarship funding from the calculation used to fund public schools. Currently, the Department of Education and Scholarship Funding Organizations must sort through upwards of $4 billion to send the right amounts to the right places for the right students.
The bill also expands use of the Educational Stabilization Fund to ensure all scholarships are funded for eligible students and that school districts receive proper funding. It recognizes that 45 of the state’s 67 school districts have been losing enrollment over the past five years.
To improve tracking, the bill requires families to provide documentation that students are not enrolled in both public and private schools simultaneously. The Department of Education must assign Florida student IDs to all scholarship recipients and cross-check applicants against district enrollment files.
The legislation establishes monthly payments instead of quarterly payments and requires verification of continued eligibility before each payment. It also creates fall and spring application windows with clear deadlines that occur before scholarship funding.
The bill requires annual audits by the Auditor General and mandates that Scholarship Funding Organizations return funds based on audit findings.
Nearly 20 percent of school-age children are now educated in private schools or home-schooling arrangements at public expense through the scholarship programs.
The bill now goes to the Florida House of Representatives for consideration.
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