Budget on the table, but House and Senate can’t agree on solution to school voucher struggles

A proposed fix for school choice budgeting and accounting problems fell short in legislative budget negotiations despite a heavy focus on them from both chambers leading to session’s start.

Two major proposals — separating school choice vouchers from the formula funding public schools plus more thorough accounting standards — have consequently been left undone.

The proposed education budget increases the state’s portion of per-student funding by about $87 and local government’s contribution by $63 per student, making a total increase of $150 — up to $9,337 compared to the current fiscal year’s $9,187, a 1.64% increase.

Legislative leaders highlighted $1.56 billion dedicated for teacher salary increases, including $200 million specifically dedicated to teachers with at least 10 years’ experience. Gov. Ron DeSantis had requested that amount in his proposed budget.

After neglecting to take up the Senate’s bill during the regular legislative session, the Senate rejected the House’s proposal to establish one-year budget language for the state to distribute school vouchers, including addressing problems revealed by the state audit. Those now-rejected suggestions included assigning an identification number to all students and tightening rules as to when and how the funds are to be transferred.

“That’s going to be a discussion every session,” Senate budget chief Ed Hooper said over the weekend of the need to ensure that financial support follows student enrollment in public versus private or home schools. “I think that will get worked out, and we just could not get to an agreement this session that seemed to satisfy everybody’s wishes.”

The chambers did agree to seek information from companies that could create a technology platform to “perform the statutorily required cross-checking of files,” ensuring students aren’t double-counted as public school enrollees and private school voucher recipients, a primary problem uncovered by the audit. 

“A myriad of accountability problems” were on display during the committee weeks leading to the regular legislative session, as worded by a state audit. House and Senate committees reacted to a state audit showing “funding did not follow the child” to private schools or home schools, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars unaccounted for. 

A state auditing team recommended the Legislature change the timing of scholarship application windows and provide more financial support to avoid funding shortfalls. The audit also recommended separating school choice scholarships from the area of the school funding formula that supports public schools.

The audit concluded the state has missed “various opportunities … to further accountability over the use of State education funds and timelier and more effectively identify and halt duplicate payments and recoup ineligible amounts.”

In response to a question about the audit last week, House budget chief Lawrence McClure asserted that he was “not familiar” with an “auditor that is saying” to separate the school choice scholarships from the public school funding formula.

The Senate debated a 150-page bill by Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Crestview, that would have separated voucher funding from public school funds, changed scholarship acceptance deadlines, and protocols to more effectively manage funding databases.

The Senate plan called for a uniform reimbursement and invoicing process.

“We can’t just rearrange the deck chairs, we have to make sure that we change course in the ways that the auditor general has recommended,” Gaetz said in November, in advance of the legislative session.

Not doing anything, Gaetz said months ago, would be “legislative malpractice.”

Lawmakers agreed to provide state funds from the education stabilization fund in instances when a district is in a financial emergency, particularly due to declining enrollment. Two districts, Glades and Union, recently entered financial emergencies, citing declining enrollment. 

As school choice booms, the potential for financial emergencies in public districts could grow.

School districts across the state have expressed concerns about tight budgets and declining enrollment. During pre-regular session committee meetings, some private schools expressed dissatisfaction for the system, saying their payments were backed up.