Florida’s expansion of vouchers for families who want to enroll their children in private schools is leading to tighter budgets at public schools across the state.

In 2023, the Republican-led Legislature passed a bill that eliminated the income requirement for families to receive the vouchers, called family empowerment scholarships and Florida tax credit scholarships.

These vouchers, intended to help families who could not afford private education, allow for public state aid to be redirected to families to cover the costs of the private school.

State funding diverted to private school vouchers increased from 12% for the 2021 school year to 24% for the 2025 school year, according to data from the Florida Policy Institute, an Orlando-based nonprofit whose mission is to support equitab

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