Florida restricts school vouchers over terror group affiliations

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(The Center Square) – The Florida Department of Education says private schools with ties to terrorist organizations will not receive school voucher funds.

In a post this week, the department reiterated that private schools affiliated with terrorist organizations are barred from receiving voucher money.

“In the Free State of Florida, our message is clear: private schools who have any affiliation with a terrorist group have no business operating in our state,” the department said.

The State Board of Education approved amended rules during a meeting last month to comply with House Bill 1471, which became law in April and took effect July 1.

The rules bring the Scholarship Program Compliance Form for private schools participating in state scholarship programs into alignment with the law.

The law prohibits participating private schools from employing or contracting with people or entities affiliated with designated terrorist organizations, accepting funds from them or being owned or operated by them. The restrictions also cover criminal gangs and other specified organizations, as well as people or entities that have provided material support or resources to, or received them from, those groups.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet approved state terrorist designations in September for organizations including the Council on American-Islamic Relations and its Florida chapter, CAIR-Florida.

CAIR-Florida suspended operations Nov. 5, when its designation took effect. The groups dispute the designation and announced plans to appeal a federal court ruling denying their request to reverse it.

Florida has the largest private school and home education programs in the nation, according to Step Up for Students, a nonprofit organization that administers some of the state’s private school voucher programs.

A legislative fiscal analysis estimates approximately $4.9 billion will go to the state’s school voucher programs during the 2026-27 school year to cover a projected 570,325 scholarships.

This school year, 2,477 private schools are participating in the state’s scholarship programs for private school students, according to Step Up for Students. The average scholarship is worth about $8,000.

There are 279,369 students receiving the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options and another 161,993 receiving the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities.

Schools that receive more than $250,000 annually from voucher programs are required to hire an independent certified public accountant to prepare annual financial reports examining their use of the funds.

Scholarships for home education programs have been awarded to 76,869 students this year, with the largest numbers of participating students residing in Hillsborough, Polk, Orange, Palm Beach and Duval counties.