The PCS bill differs in requiring Florida Tax Credit (FTC) voucher funding to be used first, before turning to FES vouchers. Note: The initial FPI/ELC estimate was based on the original HB1 bill.

This is derived from observed participation rates in Arizona under their universal voucher bill.

75% of private school students eligible for FES vouchers will participate, not 50%.Therefore, the assumption of the legislative fiscal analysis, which counts only students in private schools currently participating in voucher programs, is short-sighted. ‍ Some private schools not currently participating in the FES voucher program will join to accommodate FES voucher access of current families.The FPI/ELC higher estimate is based on the following assumptions: Revised FPI/ELC estimate for year one of universal voucher implementation: $1.1 billion for students currently in private schools who will access the FES vouchers (details on how the original estimate of $1.9 billion was calculated can be found here). House fiscal analysis: $210 million for 24,535 students. A substantial and increasing number of families of private school students will use state money to cover an expense they were already paying themselves. The local fiscal impact arises as communities need to address budget deficits from the loss of state aid. When students leave public schools and take their public dollars with them, that wreaks havoc on a school district’s budget, whether or not student enrollment drops, too, as documented here. State aid rerouted from public schools to FES vouchers has a fiscal impact.įPI/ELC estimate for year one of universal voucher implementation: $2 billion for current FES voucher participants and for current public school students who would move to FES vouchers due to income restrictions being removed (details on how these numbers were calculated can be found here). The total remains at $4 billion even with these changes. The committee substitute bill makes changes to the original HB 1 that impacts FPI/ELC’s initial cost estimates. Why is the fiscal analysis price tag so much smaller than the $4 billion estimate provided by Florida Policy Institute (FPI) and Education Law Center (ELC)? Because the FPI/ELC estimates follow a set of key assumptions that were not considered in the House’s fiscal analysis. As of February 24, the PCS is now the new version of HB1, CS/HB1. The Florida House PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee offered a proposed committee substitute (PCS) to HB1 that included a fiscal analysis estimating the universal private education voucher bill will cost $209.6 million in year one for Florida Empowerment Scholarship (FES) vouchers.

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