A Florida Senate panel gave bipartisan backing to legislation that would increase per-student funding for the state’s tax credit scholarship program.
The proposal would raise the maximum amount of scholarship funding students can receive, allowing larger scholarships for children in high school. Similar legislation has been advancing in the House. Step Up For Students, which publishes this blog, helps administer the scholarship program.
Theresa Day, a single mother of six who works part time, said one of her children is preparing to enroll in high school. But tuition at private high schools can be twice as high as it is in the primary grades. Without the change, she said, it might be impossible for her daughter to continue a Catholic education.
“I would not be able to afford or have the opportunity for all my children to attend private school if it wasn’t for these scholarships,” she said.
The bill, approved by the Senate Education Committee, would also increase the amount of funding parents can receive for transportation scholarships, which can help defray the cost of transportation to public schools of choice across district lines, from $500 per student to $750. The program has been little-used, but could become more relevant under new state open enrollment laws.
Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, said he backed some changes in the bill, like allowing military families to apply for scholarships year round. But he said he opposes vouchers and tax credit scholarships, and argued they undermine the public school system.
“If we were adequately funding our public schools, we wouldn’t need these programs at all,” he said, adding: “At the end of a day, we’re going to lead to a full privatization of our public education system, and I don’t think that’s the way we should go.”
Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, countered that the Senate’s current budget proposal would increase public school funding substantially.
“We can have an incredibly thriving public school system that is funded well,” she said, and also provide other options that parents might decide their children need. “We’re not all square pegs that just go in the same square hole.”
Sen. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring and sponsor of SB 1314, agreed, saying her own daughter is a public-school teacher by trade who decided to homeschool her son.
“I think that parents all deserve that choice,” she said.
