Florida disability vouchers leave many families without private school options

Florida’s state-funded voucher program for children with disabilities promised parents the ability to choose private schools, yet families like Angela Johnson’s find no schools willing to accommodate medically fragile students. Johnson’s daughter Amelia, who needs a brain shunt and feeding tube, was awarded roughly $10,500 in 2024, but every private school she contacted declined to serve her. State data reveal that over 50% of private schools in Florida do not accept any disabled students, and 8% of the $1.7 billion voucher pool was returned because families remained in public schools.

Comparable return rates are higher in Louisiana (30% for disabled students) and are emerging in Texas. The voucher model began as a targeted aid for special-needs children, a strategy intended to pave the way for broader school-choice expansions, but critics argue it now disadvantages the very students it was meant to help.