Christian schools and the students who attend them are, by far, the biggest beneficiaries, according to data from Step up for Students, a non-profit organization that administers most of the program. About 69% of the nearly 360,000 Florida students who participated in the program attended Christian schools. In all, the state sent more than $1.9 billion to Christian campuses.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/tos-l-first-academy-building-3_217591594.jpg\")
The majority of the schools that receive vouchers in Florida are Christian, including St. James Cathedral School in Orlando (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel).<\/p>\n
Islamic schools make up a tiny share \u2014 roughly 1% \u2014 of the campuses that accept vouchers. Just over two dozen Islamic schools across the state, including six in Orange and Seminole counties, take the state-backed payments, educating about 6,000 students and receiving about $46 million.<\/p>\n
Sen. Erin Grall, R-Fort Pierce, a sponsor of one of the bills, said that only those associated with groups committing crimes would be affected by the proposals.<\/p>\n
Asked by a Democratic lawmaker why criminal activities wouldn\u2019t be covered by existing laws, Grall said the legislation sought to ensure \u201cthe safety of the state\u201d and treat domestic terror organizations the same as foreign ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt speaks about crimes specifically in the vein of terrorism, which have a different definition than our other crimes for a reason, because it seeks to undermine, in a violent way, the laws of this state or the United States, through intimidation, coercion, affecting destruction of property. \u201d Grall said.<\/p>\n
The committee voted along party lines to approve the bills.<\/p>\n
![\"WISE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/tos-l-islamic-school0277.jpg\")
WISE Academy, which shares a campus with Masjid Al Hayy in Sanford, is an Islamic school that participates in Florida’s voucher program. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/ Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n
In his October social media post, Uthmeier decried the flow of tax dollars to a Tampa school that he said practiced sharia law<\/a>. He shared a video showing the principal of Hifz Academy discussing the voucher program, his school\u2019s religious teachings and the challenges facing Islamic educators.<\/p>\n The principal of that school, Mohamed Ahmed, testified in Tallahassee during a Senate committee meeting on Feb. 3 that the decision to label a group as a terrorist organization should not be placed in the hands of a small group of people, including some who have publicly attacked Islamic education.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m telling you, we do not practice sharia law,\u201d Ahmed said. \u201cPlease visit us to understand what is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Janet Curry, who teaches history at Hifz Academy, said she is Jewish but chooses to work at an Islamic school because of the students\u2019 dedication to their studies and their humility. If the legislation is approved, groups could be unfairly stamped with a \u201cpartisan and secretly evidenced designation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has always been education that tempers extremism of any kind, and adversely, fear and ignorance that fuel it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n But John Labriola, a lobbyist for the Christian Family Coalition, said he believes Hifz Academy is part of a mosque network that \u201ctrains children to reject American teachings,\u201d and schools like it should not receive public money.<\/p>\n \u201cFlorida families should never be forced to subsidize the very ideologies that threaten their safety and this bill will stop that,\u201d Labriola said.<\/p>\n The Orlando Sentinel reached out for interviews to seven Islamic schools in Central Florida that take state vouchers. None responded.<\/p>\n Many of the schools that participate in Florida\u2019s voucher program enforce rules that reflect the organization\u2019s religious beliefs. In 2020, for example, the Sentinel reported that 156 private Christian schools with anti-gay views educated more than 20,800 students with tuition paid for by state scholarships.<\/a> School leaders said their rules reflected Biblical teachings.<\/p>\n