Rabbi Moshe Matz, Executive Director of Agudath Israel of Florida, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in May of 2019

Yesterday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, signed a major expansion of the state’s newest scholarship program into law. Enacted in 2019, the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) provides vouchers to low- and middle-income students to attend the private school of their choice. House Bill 7067 increases the number of students eligible to receive the FES by approximately 28,000 new recipients each year. The legislation also changes the income threshold so that additional families are eligible when more than 5% of the scholarships remain unclaimed. Finally, the bill allows students receiving a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship to continue renewing their scholarship even if their incomes rise in future years. The latter issue has been a priority for Agudath Israel and its coalition partners for many years.

“Governor DeSantis has been a longtime champion of school choice, and recently reserved $45 million of the state’s federal funding for additional support for low-income students choosing nonpublic schools” said Agudath Israel of Florida Director Rabbi Moshe Matz. “Florida is a model of what can be achieved when elected officials are focused on working on behalf of all of the state’s families and students.