Florida lawmakers aren\u2019t abandoning school choice \u2013 but they\u2019re ready to enact guard rails on a system criticized as a free-for-all two years after throwing open the doors.<\/p>\n
In a harsh meeting last week, auditors laid out all the problems they found with the Florida Empowerment Scholarship program, from the tens of thousands of \u201cmissing\u201d children in the state\u2019s system to the money the state has shelled out to the wrong people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amount of money which we cannot account for as being in the right place at the right time exceeds $270 million on any given day,\u201d Sen. Don Gaetz (R-Escambia) summarized.<\/p>\n
Another Republican equated the voucher system to a plane they launched into the air before it was fully built, a rare admission in a political environment that has more often seen lawmakers double down.<\/p>\n
In response, Gaetz filed his bill, titled SB 318, that he said would go a long way toward fixing the system\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n
The bill focuses on tightening Florida\u2019s school voucher system by separating scholarship funding from school district budgets, creating clearer application windows and standardizing paperwork so families and schools can plan with more certainty.<\/p>\n
The proposal also adds new verification steps to ensure public money follows the student like cross-checking enrollment records.<\/p>\n
It also aims to bring greater accountability to how scholarship dollars are distributed and monitored, which would include annual audits.<\/p>\n
Finally, the bill allows public schools to offer classes and services \u00e0 la carte to scholarship students for a fee, which could pad tightening budgets. It also creates a fund to help shore up districts with declining enrollments.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur family empowerment scholarships are historic and successful, and hundreds of thousands of Florida families can tell you why,\u201d Gaetz said. \u201cBut the architecture of our current system needs to be partially re-engineered in order to work. We can\u2019t just rearrange the deck chairs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrats, who spent the bulk of the meeting calling the situation Florida finds itself in predictable, quickly hopped on in support of Gaetz\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n
They said School Choice, which now covers an estimated 20% of Florida students, was quickly devolving into a budget crisis for the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are practicing what we preach,\u201d Rosalind Osgood (D-Broward) said. \u201cWe\u2019re doing Doge. We\u2019re holding everybody else accountable. So today is a message to the public that we\u2019re also holding ourselves accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawmakers said members of the House were working on their own proposal. The bills will have to be passed in both chambers and reconciled into a final agreement before they can head to Gov. DeSantis\u2019 desk next year.<\/p>\n
Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n
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