Key Florida lawmakers float plan to add accountability to school vouchers

Jeffrey S. Solochek, Tampa Bay Times on Nov 19, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

After weeks spent reviewing problems in Florida’s $4 billion education voucher program, some key state lawmakers are suggesting changes to improve the growing system’s accountability and the tracking of its money.

Last school year, demand outstripped funding, a result of the state’s 2023 decision to drastically expand voucher eligibility. That led Legislature to OK more than $60 million in budget amendments to cover unmade payments to school districts and voucher recipients.

On Wednesday, Matthew Tracy, the state’s deputy auditor general, presented legislators with a newly released report that he said found the program’s administration and oversight were met with a “myriad of accountability challenges.” Among the many problems: The state lacked a consistent student identification system that allowed for proper tracking of children so their education funds could follow them across their choices, as lawmakers intended.

After hearing the report, Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said the audit suggested that “Whatever can go wrong with this system has gone wrong.” He said it was clear the system has scrambled funding for public and private education to negative effect.

Gaetz said he plans to file legislation this week that, in part, would place voucher funding in a line item separate from the public education budget. Committee chairperson Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, and Education PreK-12 chairperson Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, plan to co-sponsor the measure.

The idea of creating different budget line items is something school district officials have recommended for more than a year, saying it would help them better plan. But when Gaetz and Burgess proposed it last spring, the House killed that measure.

On Wednesday, at least one critical player sounded the opposition once again.

After separately hearing a report from Tracy, House PreK-12 Budget chairperson Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, called separating the two budgets “a huge mistake... that would end universal school choice in the state of Florida.”

“It’s not a fix,” Persons-Mulicka said, arguing that whatever legislation emerges must target the specifics identified in the audits and not become a policy initiative. “If you change the funding model, who’s to say there still won’t be implementation problems?”

If the state creates two separate budgets, she argued, a cap on scholarship numbers is sure to follow, and the funds eventually will be targeted for other purposes. Florida is No. 1 in school choice nationally because of its bold moves, she said, and it’s imperative that it remain so in support of all families.

She did not discuss other aspects of Gaetz’s pending proposal, which he said will include:

— Expanding stabilization funding to ensure neither voucher recipients nor school districts are shortchanged;

— Establishing more clear, aligned deadlines to apply for and fund vouchers;

— Requiring state-issued student identification numbers for all voucher recipients before they can be funded; and

— Negotiating more competitive contracts with scholarship funding organizations, including a decrease in their 3% management fee.

“We do not have a perfect bill to introduce, but we have a bill which addresses the issues,” Gaetz said, adding the state must do more than “rearrange the deck chairs” if it expects improvement.

Burgess shared the concern, noting that the problems that emerged in the system came about because lawmakers tried to build the proverbial airplane while it was already in the air.

“I want this scholarship program to work,” Burgess said, calling the situation a cautionary tale. “It’s up to us as a legislative body to look inward.”

Sen. Rosalind Osgood, D-Tamarac, offered to back the legislation, too, saying she appreciated that the panel put forth a potential solution after getting a “really bad” audit.

“Today is a message to the public that we are holding ourselves accountable,” she said.

The idea won initial praise from the Florida Policy Institute, which has criticized the lack of fiscal restraints on the program.

“The time for transparency and accuracy in awards and oversight of vouchers is long overdue,” said Norín Dollard, a senior policy analyst for the organization. “In that sense, Senator Gaetz’s bill will be a welcome step forward. However, FPI and its partners continue to call for even greater transparency and ask that data be regularly reported and published.”

_____