Ron DeSantis says national school choice would 'liberate' kids from urban public schools

'Places like Chicago are never going to give these kids opportunities.'

Gov. Ron DeSantis has been aggressive in pushing school choice options in Florida.

If elected President, he says he would bring the same options to the rest of the country.

“I think you have to do it nationally even though I think ideally it would be done at the state or local level because places like Chicago are never going to give these kids opportunities,” DeSantis said Friday.

“It’s controlled by the teacher union. They are not going to liberate. These are poor kids, and they’re basically trapped in schools that are failing (such as in) Baltimore (and) Philadelphia. So, we’ll be able to come in with scholarships to liberate these kids and give them opportunity, and it will be in other parts of the country, too.”

DeSantis also claimed that if Florida’s charter schools were a “state,” they’d be in the “top five” nationally for performance.

2023 saw an expansion of the state’s school choice program, with new categories of students eligible to receive a voucher worth $8,000 per student to go to any private school. The cost to the state was estimated at the time to be at least $642 million.

The voucher program had been limited to families making 400% or less than the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), which is about $111,000 a year for a family of four. The state has been able to meet the demand from that group, although there is a waitlist for children with special needs to get funded.

New additions include children currently enrolled in public school whose parents earn more than 400% of the federal poverty level, children presently attending private school whose families make too much for the current scholarship, called the Family Empowerment Scholarship, and even homeschooled students who agree to a certain level of state oversight.

It’s uncertain if the so-called “universal school choice” model would include all income groups nationally if DeSantis were President and got that through Congress.

“K through 12. We are going to be able to do, I believe, universal school choice nationally. I think we’re going to be able to do it. We’re working on how,” DeSantis said in Nevada last month. “At least we’ll be able to bring school choice to lower and working-class people.”

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Anne Geggis contributed reporting.

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14 comments

Silly Wabbit
November 3, 2023 at 9:32 pm

Libewate this!
PeterH
November 3, 2023 at 9:40 pm

ANOTHER RON DESANTIS FAKE PROPAGANDA PROPOSAL
Private schools are FULL with waiting lists.
- My Take
  November 3, 2023 at 10:56 pm
  
  Look for an explosion of new shabby chuŕch schools and academies and homeschooling.
  A few new ones will be good surely. But which ones.
  - MH/Duuuval
    November 4, 2023 at 10:13 pm
    
    If you don’t like your kid’s voucher school, find another: It’s a free market system. Caveat emptor.
Michael K
November 3, 2023 at 10:25 pm

Forty-two percent of Florida charter schools FAIED over the past 10 years. Hey, Florida is #2 in the nation for charter school closures.
- Linwood Wright
  November 3, 2023 at 11:41 pm
  
  Charter schools have always been a scam.
  I feel bad for the kids who’s parents fell for that crap.
Dr. Franklin Waters
November 3, 2023 at 11:40 pm

That dogwhistle he’s blowing is pretty loud.
- MH/Duuuval
  November 4, 2023 at 10:14 pm
  
  Looked at historically, school choice began as whites resisted the Brown decision in the South.
Kathryn Schoen
November 4, 2023 at 2:28 am

ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS!
BELOW ARE SOME OF THE PARTICULARS OF FLORIDA’S SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM:
1) A MULTITUDE OF NEVER BEFORE HEARD OF ENTITIES PROFESSING TO BE PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE REGISTERED WITH THE STATE AS SUCH. IN FACT, THAT’S ALL THAT IS NECESSARY TO OPERATE AS A “SCHOOL”.
A) THE STATE IS PROHIBITED FROM PROVIDING OVERSIGHT OF THESE AGENCIES
B) BACKGROUND CHECKS ARE NOT MANDATORY FOR STAFF, ONLY FOR THE OPERATOR/OWNER/DIRECTOR
C) THESE “SCHOOLS” ARE NOT REQUIRED TO ADMINISTER STANDARDIZED STATE ASSESSMENTS/TESTS
D) MANY OF THE NEW SCHOOLS ADDRESSES ARE IN STRIP MALLS, ABANDONED BUILDINGS, PRIVATE HOMES, ETC.
AND LASTLY,
E) TUITION TO ATTEND TYPICALLY MATCHES THE AMOUNT PROVIDED BY SCHOOL CHOICE VOUCHERS.
IMAGINE THAT!
Geeze
November 4, 2023 at 5:40 am

He has mom’s for liberty on his payroll
- Kathryn
  November 5, 2023 at 8:12 pm
  
  You are absolutely correct. He’s appointed two founding members of this extremist organization to state positions, one being the Florida Commission on Ethics. This is the same group that leads the pack on book banning. This is the same group that quoted Adolph Hitler on the very first page of their very first Newsletter.
Joe
November 4, 2023 at 12:34 pm

Said the liar.
JD
November 6, 2023 at 5:09 am

I love that people are finally starting to wake up to the culture wars were BS and it was just power and money grab by the GOP. Education is doubly so. Pushing their indoctrine is just a bonus.

Start the impeachment inquiries please since the Republicans toss that around like Halloween candy. Florida cannot take 3 more years of these ass clowns. Impeach the figure head and the rest will fall in line.
Rick Whitaker
November 6, 2023 at 6:34 pm

public schools are the true strength of our country. accountability is more doable with computers and equality is always best for everyone. church schools should not receive vouchers, ever. look at trumps sons, i’m sure they went to private school.