State House to take up scholarship program bill
The Florida House is poised to “dramatically” expand the state’s school voucher programs so that more students qualify for scholarships designed to help those with disabilities and those living in low-income families pay for an education outside public schools.
But the measure, slated to be discussed on the House floor Tuesday, faces unusual opposition. It comes from families now using the existing scholarship earmarked for children with significant disabilities. Those opposed to the changes include the family of former Senate President Andy Gardiner, the lawmaker from Orlando for whom the Gardiner Scholarship is named.
“This will be the beginning of chipping away at something this Legislature set up to support our fellow citizens that have children with the most significant disabilities,” Camille Gardiner, his wife and a co-founder
of the Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida, told lawmakers.
The House bill (HB 7045) could mean more than 61,000 new students qualify for the scholarship programs at a cost to the state of up to $200 million.
The bill would merge the Gardiner and the McKay scholarship programs, which both serve children with disabilities, into a third program. But the Gardiners, who have a son with Down syndrome, and other parents fear combining them would mean children with the most needs could be shut out or end up with smaller scholarships.
“The Gardiner Scholarship has given my son his future,” said Sara Sevener, a Pasco County mother whose son has autism, at a House meeting two weeks ago.
But, she added, “By mixing all the scholarships together, there are kids who are going to be lost.”
Lawmakers pushing the change say the parents are mistaken. They are trying to simplify and expand the state’s five current voucher programs, which combined serve more than 160,000 students, but not curtail services for those already using the programs.
“I do this for the kids,” said Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, sponsor of the House measure. “I will make sure this bill does not hurt any of them.”
The voucher programs provide scholarships to private schools or, for Gardiner recipients, funds that can be used for private school tuition as well as for homeschooling curricula and supplies, laptops and other technology and therapy, among other items.
The Senate has an even more sweeping scholarship overhaul (SB 48), but observers view the House bill as more likely to pass this year.
For most students, the House bill increases how much their scholarship is worth, Fine said, and it “dramatically increases the number of children who will be eligible for school choice scholarships in the state of Florida.”
Florida’s scholarship programs have been controversial for years, with public education advocates unhappy they steer public money to private schools the state does not regulate. But typically parents who speak about the scholarships at hearings in Tallahassee have done so to praise them.
That changed this month when Gardiner recipients told lawmakers they feared the proposals would damage a program they’ve come to count on. The program, begun in 2014, provides scholarships of about $10,400 per student. About 17,500 students use the scholarship this school year.
Rep. Chris Latvala, R-Clearwater, who supports the House bill, said at the April 8 meeting he’d never before seen “folks march up to the podium and ask us to oppose something that helps them.”
Both he and Fine said all students currently using a Gardiner scholarship will be grandfathered in, so they would not get less than they are now.
But parents said the “grandfathering in” provision confirms their worries.
“That means something coming is not good,” Camille Gardiner said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel.
The House bill would merge the Gardiner and the McKay scholarship programs into the existing Family Empowerment Scholarship, which serves children from low-income families. It would also change eligibility rules, making more youngsters available for the new scholarships.
Both the McKay and the Family Empowerment scholarships, now worth about 95% of what public schools get for those students, would rise to the full public school cost under the bill. McKay would become an “education savings account,” as Gardiner is now, so parents could use those funds for more than private school tuition.
Though both Gardiner and McKay serve youngsters with disabilities, students who use McKay can have far less significant needs, such as a learning disability or a speech impediment, than those using Gardiner. Gardiner scholarships are available only to children who have one of a list of serious disabilities, including autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, intellectual disabilities and spina bifida.
To qualify for a McKay scholarships, students must have been in public school the prior year, but Gardiner has no such requirement.
Andy Gardiner said the two scholarships were kept separate on purpose. The goal of the one named after him is to give maximum options to parents whose children have more significant and unique needs, “that just got dealt a different hand,” he said. “It’s proven to be very successful.”
The bill would change that by making many more students eligible under one broad scholarship umbrella.
“That was not the vision, that was not the intent,” Gardiner said. “The pool just grew, and they have to compete.”
The change, he added, has been pushed by Step Up For Students, the school choice advocacy group that administers many of the state’s scholarships, earning a fee based on the number of scholarships awarded.
“The families on Gardiner and the families on McKay have not been asking for this,” he added.
In an email, Step Up said it is “dedicated to the success and satisfaction of the scholarship families” and that “streamlining these programs was a priority of the House and Senate leadership.”
Senate President Wilton Simpson helped announce his chamber’s bill in January.
Barbara Beasley, a Longwood mother, has used the Gardiner scholarship for the past four years for her daughter, who has complex medical and educational needs and for whom public school proved unworkable. The scholarship has helped her buy homeschooling curricula and a laptop and pay for tutors as well as behavioral, equine and music therapy for the now 12-year-old.
“This scholarship was perfectly wonderful for all of us,” Beasley said. Sometimes there were “technical glitches” getting reimbursed, but most Gardiner families she knows are pleased and not looking for the changes lawmakers want.
“It provides very well for our children,” she added.