Florida’s school choice program offers universal vouchers but cannot show systemwide academic improvement

By Kendall Deas, Assistant Professor of Education Policy, Law, and Politics, University of South Carolina

The Florida Department of Education cannot account for US$270 million it has spent through its school choice program. That’s according to a November 2025 state audit of the department.

The same audit shows the department also doesn’t know which schools – if any – more than 30,000 K-12 students in the state attend.

During the 2026 legislative session, which ended March 13, 2026, state Sen. Don Gaetz, a Republican…

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