A proposal to boost funding for two Florida private school choice programs is ready for the state House floor after winning approval from the Appropriations Committee.
Changes approved today would make special needs scholarships a priority.
Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, is sponsoring HB 7087. The wide-ranging tax plan would offer up to $154 million to support the Florida Tax Credit and Gardiner Scholarship programs.
In a setup similar to Enterprise Zone job credits, businesses could contribute to scholarship funding organizations, including Step Up For Students, which publishes this blog. In return, they would receive a full credit for sales taxes they collect.
Renner revised the bill to require scholarship organizations to first use proceeds from the new program to fund Gardiner Scholarships, which provide education savings accounts to children with special needs.
This school year, the Gardiner Scholarship program exhausted all of its available funding. There are now approximately 1,300 students on Step Up For Students’ wait list for the program. Another 3,700 parents have expressed interest.
The program is funded through a line item in the state budget. Right now, the House and Senate spending plans for next year would keep funding at this year’s levels, with just over $100 million for scholarships, more than $60 million below the projected need.
Supporters of the proposal have said they want to provide an additional source of funding for special needs scholarships that would be insulated from the annual tug-of-war over the state budget.
If money from the new tax credits met the demand for Gardiner Scholarships, scholarship organizations could use the remaining funds for tax credit scholarships, which help low-income and working-class students pay private school tuition. Step Up For Students received 181,000 applications for tax credit scholarships this school year, but the program only had funding available for around 105,000.
“There are children today that are not reaping the benefit of this opportunity, and this bill changes that,” Renner said.
Cathy Boehme of the Florida Education Association objected to the use of tax credits and donations to fund scholarships. Instead, she dared legislators to back constitutional changes that would allow direct funding of private school choice.
“If you want to fund private school tuition, why not be honest about it?” she asked.
The Florida Constitution Revision Commission has advanced multiple proposals along those lines. But some people in the school choice movement have questioned whether they are necessary.
One Democrat, Rep. Katie Edwards-Walpole, D-Plantation, joined Republicans supporting the measure. Rep. Shevrin Jones, D-West Park, proposed an amendment that would have steered unused scholarship funds into the state’s Safe Schools Allocation. Jones withdrew it, saying he understood Speaker Designate Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, is working on a legislative package that would boost funding for school security in response to a massacre of 17 Broward County high school students.
Other Democrats who voted against the bill said they were concerned about passing any kind of tax relief before lawmakers approved funding increases for mental health and school security.
