Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that will expand a school vouchers program for students with special needs, the governor’s official website said.
The Senate and House unanimously passed the measure (HB 3C) this past week as part of a special session that dealt with a range of issues.
The legislation focuses on the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, which has been limited to nearly 41,000 children this school year.
The measure eliminates the cap this year and allow the Florida Department of Education and organizations that administer vouchers for the state to determine the maximum number of vouchers that will be available.
After this school year, the program would go back to using a formula to determine maximum capacity.
Senate sponsor Jay Collins, R-Tampa, has said there is a waiting list of about 8,900 students seeking vouchers in the program.
Information from News Service of Florida was used in this report.
