Florida\u2019s education commissioner accused the head of the St. Johns County school district Friday of encouraging teachers to vote out lawmakers who support the state\u2019s private school voucher program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a fiery letter posted to X<\/a>, Anastasios Kamoutsas says his office received comments from St. Johns County teachers alleging that Superintendent Brennan Asplen<\/a> encouraged them to complain to lawmakers that the state\u2019s voucher program \u201ctakes the district\u2019s money.\u201d<\/p>\n Asplen has been a regular critic of the state\u2019s voucher program, citing it as a key reason for the district\u2019s current $8 million budget shortfall.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Legislature expanded Florida\u2019s school choice programs \u2014 often referred to as \u201cvouchers\u201d \u2014 in 2023 so that all students, regardless of income, can now receive subsidies to attend private schools or receive reimbursements for homeschool expenses.<\/p>\n But Kamoutsas says Asplen\u2019s \u201cdivisive\u201d rhetoric draws attention away from what he calls a leadership problem.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is wholly inappropriate for a superintendent to encourage or press their subordinates to vote for or not vote for a particular political candidate, especially on a school campus,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n The education commissioner says that while none of the teachers who contacted his office would provide a signed statement, fearing retaliation, the state would pursue an investigation into Asplen\u2019s conduct if that changed.<\/p>\n Representatives from the St. Johns County School District did not immediately respond to\u00a0Jacksonville Today\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n Making sense of school funding<\/p>\n Florida funds its schools mostly through the Florida Education Finance Program \u2014 a calculation that accounts for cost of living, tax base and other factors, and determines a per-student dollar amount to send to school districts. It pays for operational expenses like teacher salaries, textbooks, utilities and support staff.<\/p>\n Through the program, school districts receive from the state about $9,000 per student enrolled in their schools. If a parent opts to send their child to a private school or educate their student at home, they can apply to receive a similar amount to put toward private school tuition or approved homeschool expenses.<\/p>\n Supporters of the $4 billion program say it allows state education funding to \u201cfollow the child\u201d to whatever kind of schooling their parent decides best suits them. Critics, though, note problems with the system the state uses to track students as they move between programs \u2014\u00a0and how much this rapid expansion of\u00a0has cost taxpayers.<\/p>\n A state audit<\/a> in November 2025 found \u201caccountability challenges\u201d with the program. The state funds school districts according to their enrollment at a few checkpoints throughout the school year. Last spring, the state was short $47 million when it came time to send districts their final payment of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The audit found that unprecedented and unanticipated demand for the school choice programs had run the state\u2019s accounts short.<\/p>\n Auditors suggested a better system for verifying student enrollment \u2014 to make funding more accurately follow where a child goes when they move in and out of school choice programs. And, they recommended lawmakers separate the school choice funding from traditional education allocations.<\/p>\n Though many districts lobbied for that change, a bill to do it<\/a> didn\u2019t get enough traction in the legislative session that just ended.<\/p>\n Superintendent speaks out<\/p>\n Speaking during a town hall event earlier this week<\/a>, Superintendent Asplen said the district\u2019s real problem is parents who never intended to put their children in public schools applying for the publicly funded voucher program. He says those parents are receiving money that, if it wasn\u2019t going toward private school tuition or home schools where oversight is limited, could help fund public schools.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is the 39 private schools we have in our district,\u201d Asplen said. \u201cThe parents are being told to get the vouchers, so we have 6,000 people we\u2019ve never seen before, they\u2019ve never been in our school district before, they\u2019ve always been in private school, and now they\u2019re getting the dollars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The district, Asplen said, also sees a number of students who were enrolled in a private or home school setting, but return to public school after the state\u2019s funding is already distributed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, Asplen believes St. Johns County is better off than many Florida school districts, including Duval County, which has closed 13 schools since 2020. Last school year, district officials at Duval Schools warned that they faced a $100 million budget shortfall<\/a>, but more recent financial documents do not appear as alarming<\/a>.<\/p>\n But between ballooning costs due to inflation and a desire to keep teacher salaries competitive<\/a> with neighboring districts, St. Johns County Schools has seen its expenses rise as more students look elsewhere.<\/p>\n Earlier this school year, Asplen said, officials in Tallahassee informed St. Johns County\u2019s school district that, due to the district growing at a smaller rate than anticipated when funds were distributed, it owed Tallahassee some $8 million. That number is estimated to be even higher next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n