Governor Ron DeSantis wants to take school choice to the next level.
On Friday, DeSantis proposed the Equal Opportunity Scholarship, which would allow students to apply for public funds to use at private schools.
The scholarship award amount would be slightly less than the district average per-student funding.
“For me, if the taxpayer is paying for the education, it’s public education,” DeSantis said.
The maximum number of students eligible is about 14,000 students in the first year and about 28,000 more students each year thereafter.
It’s the latest in an ambitious agenda announced by DeSantis since taking office on Jan. 8.
He’s apppointed three new state Supreme Court justices, replacing the outgoing liberal justices facing mandatory retirment age with three conservative jurisprudents, solidifying a conservative bloc on the court for decades.
He pardoned the “Groveland Four,” the group of black men Florida’s legislature resolved were wrongly accused of raping a white woman in 1949 in Lake County.
DeSantis warned AirBnB their policy of not allowing rentals of settlements in the West Bank could endanger their business in Florida.
He broke precedent with his predecessor on marijuana, supporting a patient’s right to a doctor’s recommendation to smoke it.
He proposed a $91.3 billion budget, including $625 million for Everglades restoration.
In the past two plus weeks, he’s made a number of announcements on education initiatives.
“Our goal is we’re 24th in the country now,” DeSantis said at an event at Tampa Bay Technical High School at the end of January.
“By 2030 we wanna be number one in the country for workforce education.”
DeSantis requested an audit to ensure Florida is matching technical training with job requirements, made it easier to get an associate’s degree and proposed a program to help students finish that “last mile” of higher education.
He also wants to eliminate Common Core, the controversial primary education program, pushed to fund the waitlist for Gardiner Scholarships for students with special needs and proposed bonuses to help recruit more teachers.