Florida expanded school choice programs by consolidating them, lowering requirements for entry

Providing public funding for students to attend institutions other than public schools in an effort known as school choice has been a cornerstone of the Republican platform in Florida since the Florida Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship program was created in 2001 under Gov. Jeb Bush. ​

This school year, 93,141 lower-income students received Florida Tax Credit scholarships, according to Step Up for Students, the nonprofit administering the funds. This is a marked increase from the 15,585 students the scholarship enrolled in 2002-03, its first recorded full year. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigned on the promise that he would "expand choice scholarship programs," particularly by raising the number of participants for the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program and effectively eliminating its waitlist.

With the Legislature's formation of the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Education Options program, or FES, in 2019 and its subsequent expansion of the program in 2020's HB 7067 and 2021's HB 7045 DeSantis achieved his promised expansion.  

Step Up for Students spokesperson Scott Kent said the scholarship changes enabled even more students to take advantage of school choice programs by: 

• creating more spots and eliminating the waiting list for the Florida Tax Credit scholarship;

• raising the income eligibility for the Family Empowerment Scholarship/Florida Tax Credit scholarships;

• eliminating a requirement to have attended public school the year prior;

• and exempting certain students from income eligibility requirements and program participation caps.

The program's expansion lumped the former McKay Scholarship and Gardiner Scholarship into the FES program for students with unique abilities, defined partly as students with a physical or intellectual impairment that limits a major life activity in some way.

The number of students enrolled in income-based scholarships like the Family Empowerment Scholarship and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship have increased since 2019, according to numbers Kent provided. In the 2021-22 school year, more than 165,000 received scholarships, up 16% from 142,736 the previous year. By the same token, the Gardiner Scholarship grew from more than 14,000 students in 2019-20 to more than 26,000 two years later, an 86% jump. 

Former Polk County School Board member Billy Townsend, who has been an outspoken critic of Florida's education system, is skeptical of these numbers. He notes these scholarships often have a high turnover rate and that enrollment numbers don't necessarily reflect how many students stay. A 2019 study from the Urban Institute found that 58% of Florida tax credit scholarship students leave the program after two years or less. 

And although policies enacted under DeSantis' administration could mean more students can take advantage of school choice programs, these programs have largely been consolidated under broader umbrellas, Townsend said. 

Based on the increase of students enrolled in the scholarship programs and pro-student-choice policies that have been enacted under DeSantis' administration, we rate this Promise Kept.