Teacher unions and the rest of Florida’s Education Establishment are putting the pressure on Gov. Rick Scott to veto a bill that would open up the state’s voucher program to more students.
“The (current) voucher program, also known as the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, provides private-school scholarships for children from low-income families,” Bradenton.com reports. “The scholarships are funded by businesses, which receive dollar-for-dollar tax credits in exchange for their donations.”
Under the proposed expansion of the voucher plan, more scholarships would be made available to families beginning in the 2016-17 school year. The expansion would also allow partial scholarships for children from higher-income families, and would “remove some of the barriers to participating in the program,” Bradenton.com reports.
There would also be more oversight of the voucher program, a key consideration to getting the bill through the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Gov. Scott, a Republican, has not indicated whether he supports the expanded voucher plan or not, but he’s generally seen as a supporter of school choice.
That has the Education Establishment worried.
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