There is a cap on private school vouchers for students with special needs, but not for students who receive vouchers that were previously based on income.
ORANGE PARK, Fla. — New legislation that could impact your family, will be taken up by the Florida Senate Wednesday.
The legislation would remove the current cap on the number of students who use private school vouchers for students with special needs. Currently, there is a cap on vouchers for these students, but not for students who receive vouchers that were previously based on income.
If the legislation becomes a law, Angela Schminke who runs Faith Christian Academy in Orange Park, says she would be able to teach twice as many students at her Clay County school. Schminke says 44 students at Faith Christian Academy mainly use vouchers for students with special needs.
“Parents will come to the school and they’re like, ‘We’d love to be here however, we don’t have a scholarship,’” Schminke said. “And so knowing what our tuition is this year, which is $7,400 for the year, they can’t pay that out of pocket.”
As First Coast News reported in September, private school owners like Schminke believe the fact there’s a cap on the number of vouchers for students with special needs but not for some other students is unfair.
“If we’re holding back our children that have unique abilities, then you already have two strikes against you with your education,” Schminke said. “That you’re holding it back and you’re not being afforded the opportunity to get the best education at the best private school that fits your student. And so, yes, I do find that to be a little bit discriminatory.”
Step Up For Students, the Jacksonville-based organization that distributes voucher money, says the program for students with special needs is capped by law at just over 40,000 students, but they’ve been able to award vouchers to more than 80,000 students because of exemptions allowed.
Getting rid of the cap for these vouchers would be funded through the Department of Education’s Florida Education Finance Program, according to Florida Representative Webster Barnaby’s office, who is a co-sponsor of the legislation. That funding program is a main funding source for Florida schools.
First Coast News is also hearing a stance from public school teachers.
Chris Pagel is the president of the Nassau Teachers’ Association, but did not speak with First Coast News in that capacity Wednesday morning – only in his capacity as a teacher. Pagel says if the legislation is truly in the best interest of the student and is written properly, he believes teachers support it completely.
