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FLORIDA - The Florida Senate has voted to approve a major rewrite of the state’s private school voucher system, advancing legislation intended to fix widespread problems in how scholarship funds are monitored and distributed.
The bill was passed unanimously and now moves to the Florida House for consideration.
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Don Gaetz, was prompted by a state audit that raised concerns about accountability in Florida’s rapidly expanded school choice programs.
The audit found that the state could not verify the location or enrollment status of tens of thousands of students receiving scholarship funds and that significant sums of money were being paid out without adequate tracking.
In some cases, funds that should have gone to public schools were instead directed to voucher programs.
The new bill introduces stricter rules for verifying student eligibility and requires more detailed documentation during the application process.
It also requires state education officials to cross-check voucher recipients against public school enrollment records and conduct regular audits of scholarship funding organizations.
Lawmakers said these steps are designed to prevent waste, misuse of funds, and administrative errors.
The audit also identified cases in which individuals allegedly exploited weaknesses in the system to obtain money they were not entitled to receive, highlighting the need for stronger safeguards.
Florida’s voucher programs, which were expanded in recent years to allow nearly all families to participate regardless of income, now serve hundreds of thousands of students and represent several billion dollars in annual spending.
Supporters of the bill say the reforms are necessary to protect taxpayers and ensure funds follow eligible students, while the House prepares to take up the measure next.