©2025 The News Service of Florida
Pointing to problems in tracking students amid a massive school-choice expansion, a Senate committee Wednesday backed a wide-ranging proposal that would revise school funding. The Senate Pre-K-12 Education Appropriations Committee voted 8-1 to approve the bill (SPB 7030), spearheaded by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville. The bill would affect public schools, voucher programs and home-schooling. Lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023 passed what is often described as a “universal” school choice program that allows tax dollars to go to public schools, private schools and for home-schooling. But Gaetz said the state’s decades-old funding system has not been able to adequately adapt as money is now supposed to follow students to where they are educated. Among the issues has been students moving between schools or to home-schooling, including during the academic year. “The state doesn’t know where a lot of students are,” Gaetz said. The bill, among other things, would create what is known as a “categorical” budget fund for the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program, a major voucher program. Categorical funds are earmarked for specific programs. Also, the bill would use an “educational enrollment stabilization program” to provide supplemental money to address enrollment changes during the course of the academic year in public schools and voucher programs. Sen. Rosalind Osgood, D-Tamarac, cast the only dissenting vote Wednesday.
Leave a Reply
