• Laura Hine
• 1 Comment on School Vouchers Cost States Like Florida a Fortune. They Don’t Improve Education, Either.

There’s nothing ‘conservative’ about giving away billions in tax dollars without accountability.

When my older son was four years old, I drove him every day to the most prestigious private preschool in town. Along the way, we passed our neighborhood’s public elementary school, which had been rated a “D” under Florida’s grading system. No one in my circle of friends considered sending their kids there.

But I had graduated from Florida public schools, and a thought gnawed at my conscience: “If this school is not good enough for my kids, it’s not good enough for anyone’s kids.” One day the school’s billboard advertised an open house and I decided to go. The principal was bright-eyed, full of ideas and clearly quite capable. So were the teachers. I talked with families who were similar to mine and ones who were different as our children ran around the playground together. It felt like America. And I loved it.

We hear a lot of talk about the importance of “parental choice” in education. That evening, my husband and I made a choice of our own: to improve our public schools instead of abandoning them. We enrolled our two sons and got to work – volunteering, promoting family engagement, organizing fundraisers and serving as president of the PTA – all to make the school the best place it could be not just for our children, but for the community.

After five years of learning from teachers, parents and administrators at our elementary school, I was elected to the Pinellas County School Board in Tampa Bay, one of the 30 largest school districts in the country with more than 90,000 students. I now serve as board chair. After years in our public schools and a lifetime of other experiences – from serving as a U.S. Naval officer deployed to the Middle East to overseeing construction of a new terminal at Tampa International Airport – I know in my bones and from the people I’ve worked with in the military and the private sector that public schools are the common fabric that binds us together as Americans.

Unfortunately, that fabric is fraying in many states today – and especially in my home state of Florida, where a “universal voucher” program was adopted two years ago. Universal vouchers allow any parents – regardless of income and regardless of their students’ needs – to receive taxpayer money for private school tuition or homeschooling. The price is staggering – it will cost our state $4.9 billion in taxpayer money this year from the Florida Tax Credit and the Florida Empowerment Scholarship. That money is being funneled to private schools and homeschoolers instead of public schools, and it’s causing a statewide budget crisis that threatens all of our public services.

Currently, more than a dozen states from Alabama to Texas have universal voucher programs. (The first-ever federal voucher program was signed into law in July by President Donald Trump.)

The ill-conceived universal “school choice” policy may be coming for your public schools soon. So it’s important to learn from Florida’s mistakes. Sunshine state taxpayers spent $1.2 billion on vouchers in 2023; that will more than quadruple to $4.9 billion in 2026, and it’s a primary reason that state planners forecast a $6.9 billion budget deficit in 2028.

Whether you support or oppose vouchers, this is the reality: The cost of vouchers to your state will require tax increases, budget cuts or both. And it’s all for a scheme that doesn’t require any proof that voucher students are doing as well as or better than their public school peers. Billions in tax dollars are being given away without performance standards and without financial accountability. In other words, universal school vouchers are giving taxpayer money to private schools that are not held to the same standards as our public schools.

First, let’s talk about academic standards. Every public school student in Florida takes the same standardized tests and every public school is awarded a grade. If your public school is struggling, parents know it. Private schools that receive vouchers do not receive statewide grades. They can administer any of 28 assessment tests instead of the statewide assessment required of public schools. That means there’s no statistically accurate way to compare performance at public schools and private voucher schools. What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander – does Florida believe in their education standards or not? Schools that receive vouchers should not be exempt from the high standards we demand of public schools that receive taxpayer money.

Florida law says our public schools must have certified teachers, be academically accredited and have transparent accounting. Tax-funded vouchers carry no such requirements. Of 146 private schools in my home county as of September, 71% are unaccredited by any academic agency. That percentage is even higher for the 3,515 private schools across Florida. Parents might think their kids will get a better education outside of public school systems, but the reality is, we just don’t know.

Second, let’s talk about fiscal responsibility. Public school budgets and contracts are subject to school board approval and are available for anyone to review; we know how every tax dollar is spent in public education. In contrast, private schools that get vouchers do not face the same rules. They should be required to open their financial books and be accountable for how every taxpayer dollar is spent.

The origin of taxpayer-funded vouchers in Florida dates back to 1999, when they were directed to low-income families and students with disabilities who were attending public schools that didn’t meet their needs. A program that began with noble intentions for a select few with the greatest needs has morphed into vouchers for anyone, regardless of family income or special needs. There is no cap on how many vouchers the state hands out, no meaningful safeguards that the money is well spent and no assurance that the recipient is being well educated.

Right now, each voucher recipient in Florida receives roughly $9,000 annually toward tuition. It’s a blank check from taxpayers with no limits and no oversight. Why are we giving away our tax dollars without asking questions? Why is it permissible to spend taxpayer money on alleged “educational benefits” for homeschoolers, such as trips to Disney World, backyard renovations, video game systems or big-screen TVs?

So-called “school choice” advocates portray vouchers as a “conservative” education policy, but there is nothing conservative about giving away billions in tax dollars without accountability.

Look at my school district. Five years ago, Pinellas County paid for fewer than 5,000 vouchers when the program was limited to low-income students or students with special needs or disabilities. Under the expanded voucher law this year, our county is now paying for more than 21,000 vouchers at an estimated price tag of $182 million – more than five times the cost five years ago.

The truth is that the vast majority of today’s universal voucher recipients – thousands in my county and more than a quarter million in Florida – were already in private schools or homeschooled before they started getting vouchers. The 2023 universal vouchers program didn’t encourage “school choice;” it merely awarded taxpayer money to subsidize families for a choice they had already made – and which they were already paying for themselves.

Taking advantage of vouchers for private schools is harder for disadvantaged families due to language, financial and transportation barriers. That disparity allows well-off families to get subsidies for sending their kids to private schools or homeschooling, while disadvantaged children are left in poorly funded public schools.

Families who could afford private school before should not be receiving taxpayer dollars to defray their tuition bills now. Florida can’t afford it. To get the state financial deficit under control, Florida – and the nation – must reduce free-for-all spending and implement a responsible income cap on vouchers.

Since 1647, the schooling of children has been funded by taxpayers in what is now the United States. Public education, accessible to all, is a bedrock principle of this country and one of the greatest privileges we have as citizens. Providing a high-quality education to all is in our state constitution.

State leaders should embrace, invest in and lead our public schools with vigor – not disparage and divest resources from them. But the more families that use vouchers, the less funding that public schools receive from the state, crippling their ability to provide quality education, facilities and resources to their students.

Another critical point: While public schools cannot turn away students, private schools can. Some have extremely selective admissions processes, which have the potential to mimic racial and economic segregation. I came of age in recently integrated public schools in Tampa, and looking back, I know that studying alongside and being friends with people from different communities made me a better leader in the military and in my work, a better neighbor and a better citizen. When we know one another, we care about each other and will fight for one another, too. This is not “woke-mind DEI;” this is national security.

These are our schools and our tax dollars. Contact your legislators. Tell them education money should come with academic and fiscal accountability. Then go visit your local public school and ask what you can do to ensure all children have opportunities for excellence. That, my friends, will make for a brighter future.

Remember that “D” grade given to the school I drove by every morning a decade ago? Just a few weeks ago, that neighborhood school – the one that our family chose to attend and worked to support – earned an “A” from the state of Florida. That’s what happens when we invest in and weave the rich fabric of our nation, rather than let it fray. America was built on our belief in universal education, not universal vouchers.

Laura Hine, who is not affiliated with any political party, is chair of the Pinellas County, Florida, School Board. She is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and earned an MBA in finance from the University of South Florida. Her two children attend Pinellas public schools.