This paper demonstrates how the Florida Tax Credit (FTC) Scholarship Program expands educational opportunities to children of families with limited financial resources by activating civil-society entities such as the private school sector, local communities and private, voluntary contributors.
Two decades ago, the state of education in Florida was dire. In 1999, Florida students ranked near the bottom of the nation in achievement. Under the leadership of Governor Jeb Bush, the state implemented a comprehensive set of reforms that combined high expectations, rigorous accountability and real choices for families. The FTC program was a crucial part of these reforms and sought to address the social problem of an inadequate education system by ensuring all students had access to a high-quality education that best fit their needs.
The goal of the FTC program is clear: Empower students from low-income families with educational options by awarding them a scholarship to attend a private school of their choice. FTC scholarships are funded through private, voluntary contributions to nonprofit scholarship funding organizations (SFOs), and contributors receive a state tax credit in return for their contributions. Through this crucial collaboration among nonprofit organizations, private, voluntary contributors and local communities, thousands of students from low-income families across the Sunshine State are able to enroll in private schools of their choice.
The FTC program is one of many school choice programs the state offers. Empowering students from low-income families with educational choice is part of a larger statewide trend of empowering all families with choice. In fact, Floridians are choosing educational environments that best meet the individual needs of their children more than ever before: 47 percent of Florida’s PreK-12 students attended a school of their choice in the 2017-18 school year.
The FTC program has been a particularly successful part of these reforms, in large part due to its activation and engagement of civil society. Since the creation of the program in 2001, the private school sector, local communities and private, voluntary contributors have worked in close partnership to expand educational opportunities to children from low-income families.
