ORLANDO — Florida PTA commends the Florida Senate’s unanimous passage of SB 318, a necessary step toward addressing major accountability failures and fiscal irresponsibility within Florida’s educational scholarship and voucher system.

An investigation by the State Auditor General found that the state has struggled to responsibly manage its rapidly expanded voucher program. State agencies were unable to reliably track student enrollment or verify eligibility, leading to delayed and missing funds for families and schools. These failures forced public school districts to wait for dollars legally owed and left private schools scrambling to cover basic operating costs.

The audit cited in SB 318 documented systemic breakdowns in how voucher funds were administered. Problems included frozen accounts for eligible students, delayed payments that required schools to borrow money to remain operational, and millions of dollars misallocated when students were incorrectly classified between public and private enrollment. The report also raised serious concerns about the program’s vulnerability to fraud, including overallocated accounts, insufficient safeguards to prevent public funds from being used for students who were not Florida residents or otherwise eligible under state law.

“These aren’t accounting errors on a spreadsheet,” said Jude Bruno, Florida PTA President Elect and legislative lead. “They are real funding shortages for families, lost classroom dollars for public schools, and a system so poorly monitored that taxpayer dollars were placed at risk.”

Florida PTA continues to oppose the expansive voucher programs but recognizes that SB 318 is a necessary corrective measure to meet this moment. We will still address concerns of equity and full disclosures of what students lose when they leave the traditional public school system.

However, this bill takes important steps to restore fiscal transparency by verifying student enrollment and eligibility before funds are released, strengthening some oversight, and ensuring public education dollars are separately accounted for and properly tracked.

Florida PTA also remains steadfast that the policy on stabilization funds initially included in this bill to support public schools facing enrollment shifts must still be addressed.

Public schools need reliable and predictable mechanisms to manage declining enrollment with greater confidence than in past years, particularly when those declines are driven by state policy decisions rather than local choice.

Given the scope and severity of the findings outlined in the Auditor General’s report, Florida PTA agrees with some of the sentiments shared on the Senate Floor, on Jan. 14, that it would be legislative malpractice or malfeasance not to address these failures. Ignoring a report of this magnitude would allow known fiscal and administrative breakdowns to persist at the expense of students, families, and taxpayers.

With the Senate’s action complete, Florida PTA now calls on the Florida House of

“The Senate did its job,” said Maxine Ann-Marie Lewers, Florida PTA President.
“The House now has a clear choice to correct a system that has already cost students and families real money.”

Florida PTA remains committed to full and fair funding of public education, responsible stewardship of public funds, and policies that put students and families first.