The largest but perhaps least well known of Florida's three voucher programs is providing scholarships to private schools for more than 15,000 children this year and has exhausted the $50 million that policymakers allowed for it. The Florida Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship program lets businesses divert a portion of their taxes to organizations that provide poor children with up to $3,500 in private school tuition. Though there was little advertising for the program, about 55,000 parents applied for the scholarships for their children; many are now on waiting lists. The bill's sponsor hopes to expand the program to as much as $150 million, which would save Florida nearly $1 billion in education costs over the next eight years, since the state would otherwise pay public schools an average of $5600 to educate each child.
"Tax vouchers trigger rush," by Denise-Marie Balona, Orlando Sentinel, March 21, 2003.