JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – At a news conference Thursday in Jacksonville, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez touted the recent expansion of Florida’s school choice program that the governor signed into law last month.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1, which among other changes, makes every Florida student eligible for taxpayer-financed vouchers to attend private schools worth about $8,000.
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When he signed the bill on March 27, DeSantis said there were 1.3 million students enrolled in some kind of choice program in Florida.
Nuñez said the law, which takes effect July 1, also takes into account students with unique abilities.
“In HB 1, we address the high demand and the wait list for our students with special needs,” Nuñez said. “We are tripling the rate of growth and making sure that those scholarships are available for those parents of students who have unique abilities.”
The law creates a new tiered priority system for school choice vouchers. Students whose household incomes are around $51,000 for a family of four would get first priority.
Home-schooled students are also allowed to receive vouchers and will create what are known as “education savings accounts” that allow recipients to use voucher funds for purchases beyond private-school tuition.
The legislation requires the Office of K-12 School Choice to develop an online portal that enables parents to choose the best educational options for their students and eliminates the current enrollment cap and the exemptions to the maximum number of students who can participate in FES-EO.
Nuñez was joined at Jacksonville Classical Academy by Department of Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr.
“It’s not for us to decide where the kids go but that their options are there,” Diaz said.