“Whatever could go wrong, Has gone wrong”

Florida’s rapidly expanding voucher program effectively bankrupted the K–12 funding formula in 2024–25, resulting in a $47 million deficit. Today, the Florida Legislature received a briefing on the Auditor General’s operational audit, “2024-25 School Year Funding Accountability Challenges,” detailing how the system failed.

A short summary (and direct quote): “Whatever could go wrong, Has gone wrong.”

Here is Chair Burgess’ response (his children homeschool with publicly funded vouchers):

The complete audit is here: https://flauditor.gov/pages/pdf_files/2026-046.pdf

Key findings are alarming and widespread:

• The state failed to plan for the rapid expansion of universal vouchers.
• Step Up for Students received funding and distributed money before verifying eligibility, leaving the FLDOE responsible for clawing back improper payments.
• Voucher applications continued after budgets were exhausted, resulting in $400 million overspent on vouchers.
• Auditors found incomplete or unverifiable records at Step Up, including awards made to recipients who were unresponsive to required cross-checks.
• And the list goes on.

Senator Gaetz announced that he will file legislation aimed at addressing these failures. He reiterated his support for school choice but warned that Florida must change course—the state “cannot just continue to rearrange deck chairs.”

Today was a rare day of reckoning in a Florida education committee. The hearing will soon be available in the Video Library of The Florida Channel, and it is well worth watching.