ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — The St. Johns County School District, in its budget approved last week, says the Florida Department of Education is putting $13 million more toward funding private school vouchers for families moving away from public school for the next school year.
The school district tells Action News Jax the $55.6 million being put toward private school vouchers in the county shows an increase of about 1,032 families looking into options outside of public school.
Read: Rev. Jesse Jackson joining attorneys to present new video in viral JSO traffic stop, arrest
St. Johns County teachers are worried those students won’t get as good of an education.
“I’m concerned about what our school programs are going to look like,” said Lissa O’Rourke, an exceptional education teacher for the St. Johns County School District.
We spoke with O’Rourke after she reviewed the spike in money toward private school vouchers, more formally known as “Family Empowerment Scholarships,” which shows the state is putting more than double toward vouchers in St. Johns County this year than the $25.4 million the district says were put toward the vouchers in the district’s 2023-2024 budget.
“We’re afraid that these are our taxpayer dollars and they’re going for these vouchers for private schools and charter schools,” O’Rourke said.
The school district says more than 5,300 families in St. Johns County are getting money from the state for private school this year. Action News Jax asked district leaders whether all of the money going to these families could affect its budget in the future.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
“There is certainly a potential for fewer dollars to go into the public school system,” said Cathy Weber, the Chief Financial Officer for the school district.
Action News Jax told you last month that the Clay County School District reviewed a roughly $10 million shortage in its budget because of the increasing number of families taking private school vouchers instead of enrolling in public school.
Last year, we reported a $1.4 billion shortage for Duval County Public Schools, in part, because of decreasing public school enrollment. The St. Johns County School District tells Action News Jax there is a concern over how the increasing number of families in the county sending their kids to private schools could end up affecting its finances.
Teachers like O’Rourke want parents to stay with the school district to avoid similar problems happening in the county.
“I’m hoping that they realize that, wow, our public schools really are, you know, the core of our education system,” O’Rourke said.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
