It started as the proverbial camel’s nose stuck under the pup tent of public education. Initially, a Florida school voucher offered a chance at a better education for a select group of students mired in poor-performing schools. Today, it’s fast becoming government welfare for the growing number of private schools sprouting up in Florida.
Under Florida law, the vouchers, worth about $8,500 each, are available to all students from kindergarten to 12th grade, regardless of family income or whether a child has ever attended public school. Home-schooled students are also eligible for the vouchers, which applied toward expenses that go beyond tuition.
According to the Florida Department of Education, a majority of the 2,973 private schools now operating in the state are religiously affiliated. In the past 10 years, DOE data has shown the number of private schools has increased by 600 schools. The expansion of state school vouchers is expected to cost between $2 billion and $4 billion, and those costs will only go up as more private schools take advantage of the state vouchers.