School vouchers must prioritize student education, not private school subsidies. | Editorial

It started as the proverbial camel's nose stuck under the pup tent of public education. Initially, a Florida school voucher offered a chance at a better education for a select group of students mired in poor-performing schools. Today, it's fast becoming government welfare for the growing number of private schools sprouting up in Florida.

Under Florida law, the vouchers, worth about $8,500 each, are available to all students from kindergarten to 12th grade, regardless of family income or whether a child has ever attended public school. Home-schooled students are also eligible for the vouchers, which applied toward expenses that go beyond tuition.

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According to the Florida Department of Education, a majority of the 2,973 private schools now operating in the state are religiously affiliated. In the past 10 years, DOE data has shown the number of private schools has increased by 600 schools. The expansion of state school vouchers is expected to cost between $2 billion and $4 billion, and those costs will only go up as more private schools take advantage of the state vouchers.

"I'm less interested in what happens in the short term because the intent of the policy is to bring a much bigger change to public education," Douglas Harris, a Tulane University economist who studies school choice told Post reporter Katherine Kokal. "To shift more families out of public schools and into private schools — that's the goal."

Emphasize educated students, not subsidized schools

Ensuring a quality education is one thing. Putting any and all private schools on the taxpayers' payroll is something else entirely. At some point, state leaders need to rein in school voucher spending to ensure public funding is used wisely and invested in educational programs that actually benefit students.

Palm Beach County has 145 private schools, which currently enroll 13.5% of all K-12 students. There are now 10,383 students using school vouchers in the county, according to Step Up for Students, one of two Florida nonprofits that help students obtain vouchers. That's up from under 4,000 students just last year. This, without a mass exodus from county schools. Only 10% of students in Palm Beach County now using vouchers came from public schools. A whopping 75% of private school students began taking vouchers this current school year.

When students leave a public school for a private one, the money follows the students. When students already enrolled in private school get a voucher, that's a new state expenditure. School choice supporters praise vouchers for using taxpayer money directly on students and not systems. But the reality is that these payments amount to a long-term drain of resources that will hurt the almost 3 million students still left in Florida's public schools.

Since 1999, when then-Gov. Jeb Bush signed off on Florida's first school voucher program, the A-Plus Plan, the school choice initiative has grown in popularity. Unfortunately, private schools into which the voucher money pours get less state oversight than their public school counterparts.

Fly-by-night operators started classes in strip malls, taking the voucher payments from unsuspecting parents before shutting down their schools and disappearing without a trace. Other outfits hired unqualified teachers, some with criminal records. There have been reports of falsified fire and health inspections and of private schools refusing to enroll children of gay parents or disabled students. More recently, The Tampa Bay Times uncovered homeschoolers using vouchers on Disney tickets, gaming counselors and other items that at best seem unrelated to a classroom education.

School choice began as an initiative to increase educational opportunities. Its appeal prompted Florida to expand eligibility, benefitting both students who already attend private schools and the private schools themselves.

The idea behind using public funds for private schools was to provide an option for students. Florida shouldn't be in such a hurry to invalidate public schools by propping up money-hungry private schools at the expense of the more worthy goal of providing students with an excellent education.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida school vouchers should educate students, not subsidize schools