Pastors for Florida Children pray for quality public education through legislative fixes to school vouchers, ‘Schools of Hope’

Tallahassee – Faith leaders from across the state gathered Thursday for a prayer breakfast, offering thoughtful prayers to uplift the state’s public education system, the students and families it serves, teachers, administrators and school staff, as well as the state Legislature as it begins its annual legislative session working to, among other things, meet community and school board demands for quality public education.

The Right Rev. Clarence Kelby Heath, the presiding bishop in the 5th Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, served as the event’s keynote speaker.

“All children are deserving of an adequate quality education in public schools. Whenever legislators decide against improvements and equitable resources for students, it further perpetuates existing systems and mindsets that ignore their responsibility to all our communities,” Rev. Heath said.

Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar also spoke, offering a blistering critique of current public education policy in Florida.

“Let’s be honest, there has been no accountability for the so-called accountability systems here in Florida. We have seen law after law that has been passed that has burdened our public schools, that has limited our students’ potential, that has gotten in the way of teachers and staff meeting the students where they are and seeing them for who they are,” Spar said. “We have seen public dollars ripped out of public schools by people who see our students as ATM machines rather than future scientists, teachers, doctors or inventors.

This legislative session, lawmakers will consider legislation from Sens. Darryl Rouson and Rosalind Osgood (SB 424), with a House companion filed by Reps. Ashley Gantt and Robin Bartleman (HB 6023), seeking to repeal the controversial and deeply harmful Schools of Hope colocation provision, which forces an unfunded mandate on public schools, from the Florida Keys to the Panhandle by allowing charter school operators, who are often for-profit, to co-locate in public schools without reimbursing districts for use of their resources.

“I have heard from educators, parents, and community leaders across the state who are concerned about how broadly the Schools of Hope program is written,” Rouson said. “Removing the colocation requirement helps ensure public schools are not forced to absorb unfunded mandates or give up essential learning space. Protecting our public schools must remain a priority, so students can continue learning in environments designed to meet their needs.”

Remember, approximately 87% of Florida students attend a public school. That includes charter schools, but only 14% of public school students attend a charter.

At issue is language that was quietly added into the 2025-26 state budget during the 2025 Legislative Session in SB 2510 allowing “Hope operators” under the Schools of Hope program to co-locate in any district that contains a state-designated “opportunity zone.” That opens the program to every single school district in Florida and allows private operators to occupy any school broadly dubbed “underutilized” without having to reimburse school districts for operational expenses, like maintenance and custodial costs, to utilize the space.

The Rev. James T. Golden, Pastors for Florida’s Children co-founder, said: “Faith leaders must speak up when secular legislative leadership present “Schools Of Hope” to the people as a part of the solution to the crisis in public education in Florida. The quality of public education for all will never be improved as long as the proprietary interests of a few are the real goal being met.”

Faith leaders and supporters also rejected claims that Florida’s universal school voucher program is helping Florida students and families.

Added The Rev. Rachel Gunter Shapard, Pastors for Florida Children co-founder and Together for Hope Black Belt Region Vice President: “Florida education policies and budgets proclaim the priorities of the powerful by siphoning billions of dollars away from public schools through the use of vouchers. Yet even in their under-resourced state, a majority of Florida’s families continue to enroll their children in public schools. In order to do right by all of our children, we must demonstrate their value by providing them with a public education that is fully and fairly funded.”

This school year, vouchers that divert public funding to private school students account for $3.8 billion of public K-12 spending with an additional $1.1 billion from the Florida Tax Credit Scholarships, which extends vouchers to homeschool students. These funds are expended with little accountability or oversight. Last November, a scathing report from the Auditor General about the state voucher program found “myriad of accountability challenges that left a Statewide funding shortfall and a system where funding did not follow the child” (page 1) and called for increased accountability for voucher expenditures. Senators Don Gaetz, Cory Simon, Jason Pizzo, Danny Burgess, Rosalind Osgood and Darryl Rouson have introduced SB 318 to address the striking gaps in voucher accountability, a subject advocates have long called for.

Added Rep. Robin Bartleman, (District 103): “Unfortunately for the children of Florida, the recent Auditor General’s report on our voucher system validated every concern we raised during debate. Giving away taxpayer dollars without meaningful accountability or guardrails diverts scarce resources from public schools, exposes the program to fraud, and—most importantly—fails to ensure accountability for student outcomes.

This is a disservice to Florida’s children. We must require clear academic standards, measurable outcomes, and real oversight so that every child receives a high-quality education based on their individual needs—not one left to chance.”

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Pastors for Florida Children advocates for children by supporting our free, public education system; to promote social justice for children; to advance legislation that enriches public education for the benefit of Florida children, families, and communities; and to provide clergy and congregations with resources for ministry to local schools.

Florida Coalition for Thriving Public Schools (FloCo) is a statewide alliance of parents, educators, and community leaders committed to ensuring that every child in Florida has access to a high-quality, well-resourced public school in their neighborhood. Member organizations include Florida Freedom to Read Project, Florida Policy Institute, P.S. 305, Florida Education Association, and Pastors for Florida Children.