School Choice

Success Academy is expanding to Miami, thanks to a $50 million gift from billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin and Florida's Schools of Hope program, which allows charter operators to essentially operate out of district buildings at no cost.

Some families using the voucher for students with disabilities have faced financial and emotional hardship due to payment delays, WLRN has found. Private school providers have also felt the ripples of mismanagement. More oversight is needed to ensure every student is properly funded, according to an influential Republican state senator.

The dwindling enrollment in Miami-Dade County Public Schools is not because of competition posed by charter and private schools, the district superintendent said, but a waning of new students coming to the Miami area — including from fewer immigrants coming to the U.S.

Tens of thousands of students have left Florida’s public schools in recent years amid an explosive growth in school choice. Now districts large and small are reckoning with the harsh financial realities of empty seats in aging classrooms.

Magnet programs were initially created to promote innovation and integration — by offering specialized curriculum to draw in students outside of schools' residential boundaries. District officials hope the programs will pull more kids into under-enrolled schools.

Republican legislative leaders are lauding a sweeping school-choice measure filed Thursday, while Senate Democrats have vowed to “fight like hell” against the proposal.

A new program that would allow more Florida students to use taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay for private school in Florida has passed — and is likely to…

The proposed tax credit would go toward donations to private school scholarships and other school choice initiatives. Critics say such programs funnel money and students away from public schools.

Florida lawmakers will gather March 5 in the House chamber to hear Gov. Ron DeSantis give his first State of the State address, the traditional start of...

Florida Senate Republicans are pushing a new scholarship program that expands school choice. The proposed Family Empowerment Scholarship would pay for...

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday he wants to create a new “equal opportunity” voucher program to eliminate a waiting list of about 14,000 low-income students…

During his campaign for governor, Ron DeSantis credited Republican education reform efforts like charter schools and private school vouchers for improving…