According to their legislative priorities, The James Madison Institute seeks to wean local governments from an “unhealthy reliance” on property tax and boost options for “edupreneurs” to participate in Florida’s expanding school choice program.
The Tallahassee-based free market and limited government think tank issued its 2026 Sunshine State Policy Priorities. It includes bullet point statements under headings of Governance, Enterprise, Education, and Tech and Innovation.
The Governance and Enterprise sections address housing affordability. In a 2024 JMI poll, three-quarters of respondents said housing was unaffordable.
Under Governance, JMI said it will lead the charge against a property tax system that “punishes homeowners” with “a perpetual tax,” echoing Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Housing affordability and homeownership can be achieved, according to JMI, if Florida reduces “local governments’ unhealthy reliance on ad valorem (i.e., property) taxes.” (“Ad valorem” is a Latin term meaning “according to value.”)
DeSantis has called on the Legislature to address the issue with a proposed constitutional amendment for the 2026 ballot.
Homeowners’ costs can also be eased, JMI proposes, by limiting increases in insurance premiums with restrictions on insurance litigation and a reduction in the number of homes covered by Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed insurer of last resort.
JMI will also lobby Florida lawmakers to strengthen the state’s expanding school choice options for students by embracing “edupreneurship” in public education. Edupreneurship promotes innovative business principles to improve teaching and learning.
The parents of nearly 1.8 million students, more than half of all K-12 students, have enrolled their children in a nontraditional education option such as a virtual school, charter school, career academy, private school or are homeschooled – a higher rate than any other state, according to a Heritage Foundation study.
But according to JMI’s William Mattox, more than 41,000 students with a state scholarship to pursue a school choice plan lacked a nearby option and had “to opt for Plan B.”
To increase the school choice supply JMI will back proposals that allows home schoolers to take “a la carte” courses at public schools and promotes more “innovate education enterprises” such as micro-schools, private entities that teach mixed age groups in a one-room setting.
JMI proposes Florida allow microschools and edupreneurs to rent unused space in public schools five days a week. “These policy ideas are a win-win, good for students and good for public school’s bottom line … and facilitate greater access to individual public-school courses for interest homeschoolers and scholarship students,” Mattox said.
The Florida Legislature’s 2026 session starts Jan. 13.
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: The James Madison Institute targets taxes, school choice in new report
Reporting by James Call, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
