Voucher program in Florida has long waiting list
The largest but perhaps least well known of Florida's three voucher programs is providing scholarships to private schools for more than 15,000 children this year and has exhausted the $50 million that policymakers allowed for it. The Florida Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship program lets businesses divert a portion of their taxes to organizations that provide poor children with up to $3,500 in private school tuition. Though there was little advertising for the program, about 55,000 parents applied for the scholarships for their children; many are now on waiting lists. The bill's sponsor hopes to expand the program to as much as $150 million, which would save Florida nearly $1 billion in education costs over the next eight years, since the state would otherwise pay public schools an average of $5600 to educate each child.
"Tax vouchers trigger rush," by Denise-Marie Balona, Orlando Sentinel, March 21, 2003.
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