Florida lawmakers wrote a letter to President Donald Trump in opposition of a potential plan to increase off shore oil drilling near Florida, and a new report shows potential problems with Florida’s school voucher program.


Florida lawmakers unite to oppose off shore oil drilling near Florida coasts

The entire Florida congressional delegation has sent a letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to keep oil and gas drilling away from Florida’s coast.

Rep. Vern Buchanan and Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody are leading the push. They are asking the president to uphold the moratorium he signed during his first term on drilling in federal waters that is in place until 2032.

This letter is in response to a plan out by the Trump administration to lease offshore land for oil drilling. Some of the land that could be opened up is not far off Florida’s Gulf Coast.

A wide stretch of the Gulf from Texas to Alabama could be subject to lease as soon as 2027, with parts of the eastern gulf, closer to the Tampa area, potentially to be drilled in 2029 or 2030.

To do so, the administration would end the Biden-era “Leasing Program,” which was more restrictive.

The Interior Department suggests doing so is part of Trump’s promise to open up more of the country to drill for fossil fuels.

Audit finds Florida school vouchers program can’t fully account for $270 million

A new audit has revealed potential issues with the Florida Family Empowerment Scholarships system, which gives vouchers to families so they can send their children to private schools.

The audit revealed that the Florida Department of Education has trouble tracking $270 million in voucher funds. The state also recently sent a $4 million check to Orange County Public Schools to reimburse the district for funds that should have been sent to them, according to the report.

The Florida Auditor General’s report tracks how the state followed money for its $4 billion private school voucher program during the 2024-2025 school year. The audit estimated that Florida has may have made overpayments for roughly 30,000 students within the private voucher system across the state for the school year.

It also says last year, the state sent $47 million to families to pay for private schools when their children were actually enrolled in public schools.  

The report did outline that there is a process in place currently to identify students where double payments were made, as well as the process to try to recoup the funds issued to private schools and other education entities.

Jessica Popov is a mental health counselor who helps students using the private voucher programs. She is not surprised by the problems in tracking the funds.

“There was a major rush to put this voucher program in place without a lot of oversight and accountability or checks and balance system,” Popov said.

State Representative Anna Eskamani, a Democrat, says the state was slow last year to reimburse some private schools and families for their expenses.

“This audit specifically states the money did not follow the child. There are tens of millions of missing dollars, that we don’t know where the money went. You have private schools that have not been reimbursed, and families waiting to be reimbursed for money they spent on their children,” Eskamani said.

Republican State Sen. Don Gaetz spoke about the audit’s results last month on the senator floor.

“We have to make sure that we change course in the ways that the auditor general has recommended,” Gaetz said.

He is sponsoring a bill to fix the money-tracking problems. Gaetz says the $270 million is not missing, but it’s hard to track because it’s moving back and forth between private schools and public schools.

Gaetz said that Senate Bill 318 would identify if a student is in a private school or public school before the state sends voucher money to their families. Right now, the state sends the money and then tries to locate students.

Gaetz’s bill would also separate funding for public schools and voucher funds into separate allocations in the budget. Right now, the funds are all lumped together and then dispersed.

Gaetz filed Senate Bill 318 this week, and it will go before the full Senate Appropriations Committee. He adds that the bill will not be easy to pass during the upcoming legislative session.

Gaetz stressed that the state needs to fix the tracking problems this year or the Florida Department of Education won’t be able to locate even more students next year than the 30,000 students they are having trouble tracking now.

“We have to make sure that we change course in the ways that the auditor general has recommended,” Gaetz said.