School vouchers

Proponents of the scholarships have touted them as allowing families to customize students’ educations.

Florida is among at least four states that have made most children eligible for taxpayer-funded scholarships to private schools — and are seeing more families using the programs than planned.

Since a major expansion of the program, Florida's private school voucher system has experienced delays in getting money to families and schools.

Six weeks into the school year, families of special needs students still have not received school vouchers following a major expansion of the program.

Nearly 123,000 new students are in line to receive school vouchers under a major expansion of the programs, while an organization that administers the programs says they will not bring an "exodus" from public schools as critics have predicted.

The Florida education system has been in the spotlight lately after Gov. Ron DeSantis banned diversity and inclusion programs in public colleges and approved a controversial social studies curriculum.

With back-to-school season in full swing, we talk about the latest in education news, including how various districts are handling a teacher shortage, the approval of PragerU educational materials in K-12 schools and Florida's recently expanded vouchers program.

At Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed bill HB 1 — a massive expansion of Florida’s school voucher programs, while Democrats and other opponents continued to warn about the potential costs of the plan.

Florida is the latest state to expand its school voucher program to all students, regardless of their family income and whether they’re in private school or homeschool.

The bill would make every Florida student eligible for taxpayer-backed school vouchers — a priority of House Speaker Paul Renner of Palm Coast.

The proposal lets all K-12 students in Florida become eligible for either a private school scholarship or an education savings account but hesitation about the cost is growing as other states with similar programs face big problems.

Calling it a move toward “universal choice,” House Speaker Paul Renner on Thursday announced legislation (HB 1), a proposal that would make every student in Florida eligible for school vouchers — a move that Democrats blasted as a Republican attack on public education.