For more than two decades, Florida families have had something that many in other states don’t: real choice in their children’s education. Whether through public charter schools, private school choice scholarship programs or other options, parents across our state have built their families’ lives around the ability to find the right educational fit for their kids.
Today, that freedom is under threat — not from any failure of these schools, but from a special interest lawsuit that seeks to erase what Florida families have spent a generation pursuing.
Two decades ago, Gov. Jeb Bush championed the first statewide voucher program in the country, rooted in a simple but powerful belief: no child should be trapped in a school that isn’t working for them simply because their family can’t afford an alternative.
That idea took root in Florida and grew into something remarkable. Today, all of Florida’s more than 3.2 million students benefit from a robust system of public and private school choice. Roughly one in seven Florida students attends a public charter school. And more than half a million students are participating in Florida’s Family Empowerment and Florida Tax Credit Scholarship programs.
Though special interests seem to enjoy pitting choice schools and traditional public schools against each other, let’s be clear about what Florida has built when it comes to traditional public schools, too. The legislature has made historic investments in public school funding and teacher pay. Graduation rates are at record highs. School districts are even building their own innovative offerings to appeal to families.
All of this has happened at a time when there is more parental freedom than ever before to find an education that genuinely fits each child’s needs, learning style and values. This is not a story of two competing systems. It is a story of a state that chose to invest in both—and succeeded.
The research supports choice. A 2019 Urban Institute study found that students enrolled in Florida’s tax credit scholarship program in elementary or middle school were six percentage points more likely to enroll in college than their peers. Among students who spent all four years in a private high school through the program, enrollment at four-year colleges doubled compared to the control group.
The impact of Florida’s choice programs on the public system is well established. For example, a landmark study by three respected researchers matched education and birth records of children born in Florida between 1992 and 2002 and found that as the scholarship program expanded, public school students in areas with greater competitive pressure as a result of access to different school options saw significantly greater improvements in outcomes.
This new special interest lawsuit lays the blame for broader societal trends at the feet of nearly one million Florida families who have exercised choice. Birth rates have plummeted. Immigration patterns have shifted. The federal government’s COVID-19 era historic money windfall for public schools is gone. None of this is due to the presence of school choice.
This lawsuit won’t help more students learn. It doesn’t support teachers, despite arguments to the contrary. It doesn’t improve a single classroom or open a single door for a struggling child. What it does do is check a political box for the special interest group that brought it forward while creating uncertainty for the hundreds of thousands of families who have structured their lives around these options. These families deserve stability, not frivolous litigation.
Florida has shown the rest of the country that supporting strong public schools and expanding educational choice are not mutually exclusive goals. We’ve done both. The results speak for themselves. Our focus now must remain where it has always belonged: on students, on families and on making sure every child in Florida has access to an education where they can thrive.
Nathan Hoffman is the Senior Legislative Director for the Foundation for Florida’s Future.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Lawsuit could upend Florida school choice for families
Reporting by Nathan Hoffman, Guest columnist / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Nathan Hoffman, Guest columnist | USA TODAY Network
