More than half of registered Florida voters surveyed in a recent poll conducted by Florida Atlantic University said they support Gov. Ron DeSantis’ expansion of school voucher programs for middle-income families.
Overall, 52 percent of respondents said they support the expansion. Agreement was greatest among those in the 30- to 34-year-old age group, with 62 percent expressing support.
The poll, conducted March 22-24, revealed that expansion of school voucher programs was the third most popular policy of DeSantis, eclipsed only by his plan to allow Florida to import prescription drugs from Canada and creation of a task force to reduce the impact of harmful algae blooms.
DeSantis signaled early in his tenure that he would support education choice, committing in his State of the State address to end the wait list for parents seeking the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. He cited a recent Urban Institute study that found tax credit scholarship students are 43 percent more likely to attend a four-year college and up to 20 percent more likely to obtain a bachelor’s degree.
In February, DeSantis announced his desire to create a state-funded program to help reduce the number of families on the scholarship waiting list. He called upon the Florida Legislature to establish an “equal opportunity scholarship” funded in the state budget to meet the needs of lower-income and working class parents. Bills are moving through the House and Senate that would create such programs.
The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (which is administered by nonprofits such as Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog) currently serves nearly 100,000 lower-income students, making it the nation’s largest such program. About 13,000 students are on the waiting list to receive scholarships.
