Victory!
The lawsuit against the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship has been dismissed.

A record of legal documents and media coverage:

fea-protest-photo   Power-of-Choice-sign

 

On Aug. 28, 2014, the Florida Education Association (FEA), Florida School Boards Association (FSBA), Florida Congress of Parents and Teachers (PTA), Florida Association of School Administrators (FASA), League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVFL), Florida State Conference of Branches of NAACP (FLNAACP) and Florida members of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) sued the State of Florida seeking to end a scholarship program for economically disadvantaged students. Now in its 15th year, the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship is serving more than 90,000 low-income children in more than 1,600 private schools.

The lawsuit argues the tax-credit scholarship program violates two sections of the Florida constitution: Article I, Section 3, which says that “no revenue of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution”; and Article IX, Section 1, which says that “adequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education and for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of institutions of higher learning and other public education programs that the needs of the people may require.”

The lawsuit was heard in trial court on February 9, 2015 and dismissed by Leon County Circuit Court Judge George Reynolds on May 18th. Judge Reynolds ruled the plaintiffs had no standing to sue. The FEA appealed to the First District Court of Appeals on August 21, 2015. Prior to the appeal, the Florida Association of School Administrators and the Florida School Boards Association withdrew from the lawsuit on April 8th and June 10th, respectively. Joanne McCall, president of the FEA, vowed to take the lawsuit all the way to the Florida Supreme Court. The lawsuit is expected to take several years to resolve.

On January 19th, 2016, about 10,000 parents, students, teachers, and school administrators and supporters marched on Tallahassee in support of the Tax Credit Scholarship and to ask the teacher’s union to drop the lawsuit against the program. The rally was put together by the Save Our Scholarships coalition, Florida Voices for Choices and paid for by the American Federation for Children. Speakers included Bishop Victor Curry, Rev. H.K. Matthews, Rev. R.B. Holmes, Julio Fuentes, and Martin Luther King III.

Oral arguments were heard before the First District Court of Appeal on May 10, 2016 and dismissed by the three justices on August 16, 2016.

Further Updates

On September 14, 2016, the FEA asked the Supreme Court court to hear an appeal of a ruling by the First District Court of Appeal, which held that the FEA, and other groups behind the suit, did not have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the Florida tax credit scholarship program.

The Florida PTA dropped out of the lawsuit on November 21st, while the State and Parent Intervenors filed briefs requesting the Florida Supreme Court dismiss the lawsuit on November 22nd.

On January 18, 2017, a five member panel of Supreme Court Justices voted 4-1 to decline jurisdiction over the lawsuit. The First District Court of Appeal decision stands and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship may continue.

Program Facts:

  • As of December 1, 2017: 108,570 students enrolled in a private school using a scholarship. Step Up awarded 107,667 of the scholarships.
  • The average participating household earns $26,578, or just 9.1 percent above poverty
  • 38 percent of students are Hispanic
  • 30 percent of students are black
  • 26 percent of students are White
  • 53 percent of students in single-parent households
  • 1,784 participating private schools
  • All scholarship students take a state-approved national norm-referenced test
  • All test scores are reported to the Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University
  • School gain scores are made public if the school has at least 30 scholarship students
  • All schools receiving $250,000, or more, in scholarships are required to submit a financial report by an independent CPA to the state

Important Links:

Independent Studies
Government Reports
Financial Reports
Contact Public and Policy Affairs

Program Background

The scholarship was enacted in 2001 and began serving scholarships to low-income children in 2002. For the 2019-20 school year, the program provided $539 million in scholarships to 108,570 low-income and working-class children in more than 1,600 private schools. Step Up provided 107,667 of those scholarships worth up to averaging between $6,775 to $7,250 depending on grade and county of residence. AAA Scholarships has not yet released enrollment statistics.

Scholarships are all funded by private tax-credited corporate contributions. No direct tax dollars are used to fund the scholarship program. Companies receive a 100 percent tax credit (as opposed to a tax deduction) for their contributions to a Scholarship Funding Organization (SFO). The SFO is then required to review applications, award scholarships to eligible students, and issue checks, to be endorsed by the parent, to a state-approved private school of the parent’s choosing.

Children are eligible for full scholarships if their total household income is no more than 200 percent of poverty, or $48,600 for a household of four. Students are eligible for partial scholarships so long as the household income does not exceed 260 percent of poverty, or about $63,180 for a family of four. The average student lives in a household earning $26,578 per year, or just 9.1 percent above poverty.