A new school year is underway in Florida, bringing new opportunities for students participating in the nation’s largest school choice programs.
Nearly 500,000 Florida families will be awarded choice scholarships this year. Most will use the funding to pay tuition for private schools that might otherwise have been inaccessible.
Decades of leaders — including Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. Ron DeSantis, and the Legislature — have made a clear promise to Florida families: access to educational options that work for their children. School choice aims to empower parents with various schooling types, and Florida leads the nation in this effort.
Today, more than half of Florida families attend schools outside their district-assigned ones. Available options include public charter schools, public magnet schools, microschools, virtual schools, and hybrid home education.
The demand for many of these options far exceeds the supply of available seats, making a case for expanding these choices. Critics often argue that school choice diminishes traditional public schools' quality by diverting students away from them.
However, proponents argue that such criticisms are unfounded and that statistical evidence does not support claims against school choice programs.