JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law the largest school choice expansion in the state’s history on Monday.
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The new law will open private school vouchers to all Florida students.
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Opponents of the legislation argue every student who takes those multi-thousand-dollar scholarships will be funneling money out of public schools, but supporters counter the money should follow the child, not the system.
Parent Adam Mangana told Action News Jax his two students have benefited from school choice by attending online charter schools.
Now, with all students being able to qualify for scholarships to attend private schools, he’s hopeful more students in the state will have the opportunity to attend schools that best serve them.
“The ability to have those dollars follow the student just gives people more flexibility,” Mangana said.
But not everyone is supportive of the new universal voucher law.
Related Story: Florida House proposes major school voucher expansion for every student
Jacksonville State Representative Angie Nixon argued with cost estimates ranging from $200 million to $4 billion in the first year alone, she fears it could mark the end of traditional public education.
“What we’re about to do is subsidize millionaires and billionaires to pay for corporate schools that are allowed to discriminate. That are allowed to discriminate based on the type of beliefs you have, based on how your hair grows out of your head, based on who you love, possibly based on the color skin you have,” Nixon said.
Governor Ron DeSantis on the other hand argued the expansion of school choice has brought with it more competition, improving education across the board in the Sunshine State.
Related Story: Florida Legislature votes for major school voucher expansion, headed to Gov. DeSantis
“People have said, wait a minute, if you give parents a choice, if you let parents take scholarship and go to the of their choice, somehow that’s gonna hurt education performance, and in Florida we’re proof positive that that’s the opposite of what actually happened,” DeSantis said. “The fact of the matter is our school districts perform better because they’ve embraced choice, our charter schools perform better because they have to compete for individual students.”
The Governor also noted as school choice options have increased, so too has funding for traditional public schools.
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He said to expect education funding to increase again this year and a historic $1 billion investment for teacher pay.