Vouchers are worth up to the same amount public schools would have spent on a participating child, though funding may not exceed the private school’s tuition and fees. Calculations are based off the services provided by the district under the student’s IEP or 504 plan. Parents may supplement vouchers with their own money.

Students with special needs who have IEPs or 504 plans and were enrolled in public school for at least one year are eligible. Students entering kindergarten may also qualify without enrolling in public school if the state’s Office of Early Learning reported that they received specialized instructional services in prekindergarten. Students in foster care and dependents of active duty military who moved to Florida from out-of-state on a military assignment are also exempt from the prior public schooling requirement.

Florida’s John M. McKay Scholarship program was the first of its kind in the country and remains the model for similar, newly created programs in other states. The program excels on funding power and school requirements. Vouchers are worth up to the child’s full funding in his or her previous public school. As for school requirements, participating schools must be approved by the state and report to parents annually on participating students’ progress. Private schools are not required to accept all students—an important feature, as not all private schools are equipped to educate students with special needs. The program’s only shortcoming is that it is limited, in this case to students with special needs. Obviously those children deserve access to a great education, but other Florida students similarly could benefit from McKay’s generous vouchers. Should the program expand eligibility, it would only improve upon its already great achievements.

• Income Limit: None
• Prior Year Public School Requirement: Conditional
• Geographic Limit: Statewide
• Enrollment Cap: None
• Voucher Cap: Conditional
• Testing Mandates: None
• *Limited to students with special needs

School Requirements:

• Be approved by the state
• Submit to the state annual sworn compliance reports regarding all local and state health and safety codes
• Comply with federal nondiscrimination requirements of 42 U.S.C. § 2000(d)
• Teachers and other school personnel who work with scholarship recipients must undergo federal background checks
• Teachers must have a bachelor’s degree, three years of teaching experience or special expertise
• Schools in operation for fewer than three years must obtain a surety bond or letter of credit to cover the value of the scholarship payments for one quarter
• Provide a program of instruction for a minimum of 170 actual school instruction days
• Notify the Florida Department of Education when a scholarship student withdraws from the school
• Report student’s progress to parents annually

Fla. Stat. § 1002.39

On January 4, 2019, the Florida Supreme Court rejected a claim that the state did not adequately fund education, marking the end of a 10-year litigation effort. The high court also preserved Florida’s school choice programs due to plaintiffs’ failure to adequately preserve their arguments throughout the litigation. The high court affirmed two lower court rulings (Citizens for Strong Schools, Inc. v. Florida State Board of Education, No. CA-4534 (Fla. 2d. Jud. Cir. May 24, 2016; and Citizens for Strong Schools v. Florida State Board of Education, No. 1D16-2862 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Dec. 13, 2017) holding that plaintiffs had no standing to sue regarding the tax–credit scholarship program, and that Florida’s school choice programs did not divert state funding or have any detrimental effect on Florida’s system of public schools. Notwithstanding the Florida Supreme Court’s prior ruling against vouchers (Bush v. Holmes, 886 So. 2d 340 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004), aff’d on other grounds, 919 So. 2d 392 (Fla. 2006)), the Court also held that the McKay voucher program was beneficial and constitutional. Citizens for Strong Schools v Florida State Board of Education, case No. SC18-67 (FL. Jan 4, 2019)