JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In March of 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill removing income caps for the state’s private school vouchers, and data from Duval County Public Schools shows nearly 100,000 additional students statewide have enrolled in the program that distributes the vouchers for the upcoming school year.
DCPS data also shows the number of students enrolled in Family Empowerment Scholarships, which includes private school vouchers, grew by about 46% statewide this year.
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In Duval County, about 5,700 additional students have received vouchers, including Krystina Bennett’s daughter. She said her child was already in Catholic school when they applied for a voucher earlier this year.
“I was like, he is so awesome, because now we have more say in where our tax dollars are going, and how that’s truly going to support our child,” Bennett said. “So, I thought it was great.”
She said they received close to $8,000 to go toward her daughter’s tuition.
“It was pretty significant, covered a really good chunk of the total tuition costs for the school,” she said.
“It really gives us a lot more freedom,” she responded when asked about how it’s impacted her family.
According to a researcher from the University of Michigan, analyses of private school vouchers from across the country show most students who receive them have never been in public school.
News4JAX asked Bennett if others at her daughter’s school were also able to take advantage of the program when the income cap was lifted.
“Yeah, I think a huge majority actually were. That’s what it seemed like to us. It’s because we had been made aware of it the previous year, and I didn’t think that we qualified, so we didn’t even bother applying. And then what happened was our school hosted a meeting, to kind of go over, like, all the facts around the scholarships, and encourage everybody to apply,” she said.
Critics of the expanded private school vouchers, like Damaris Allen with advocacy group Families for Strong Public Schools, are worried about funding private schools at the expense of public schools.
“We have to realize that our tax dollars are a finite resource, so either we bring in more tax dollars, or we have to cut spending,” Allen said. “That’s part of the challenge.”
In Duval County, a budget crunch is leading the district to consider closing traditional public schools as the costs to renovate and replace aging schools have risen and the district’s enrollment has dropped.
Critics of expanding access to public funding for private school tuition are also concerned about oversight and accountability in private schools, which aren’t subject to public schools testing standards, open records laws, and board member elections.