All,
HB 1 -- the Expanded Voucher Bill -- is being heard in its 2nd House committee hearing on Thursday morning, Feb. 23. We need you to contact the committee members below and tell them to VOTE NO on this bill. You can use the same talking points that you used last month before the first hearing (see below), and don't forget to educate others in your clubs and community about the dire ramifications for families that will unfold from this legislation.
Reasons to oppose this bill:
The current voucher scholarship program targets children from low-income families and children with disabilities, but this new HB 1 bill wipes out family income requirements and allows ALL Florida students to be eligible if the child does not attend public school;
Even millionaires would be eligible to raid the funds for their expensive private schools or homeschooling services at the expense of the state education budget;
Taxpayers would be funding more voucher schools that are exempt from state rules regarding teacher qualifications, academic standards, and testing;
Voucher schools can charge tuitions that are higher than the scholarship amount per student, essentially forcing families to fill the financial gap;
Public schools serve all students, but voucher schools are allowed to discriminate against gay students and others with disabilities, different religions, and disadvantaged backgrounds;
90% of students in Florida are enrolled in public schools where they are suffering from a teacher deficit and large class sizes. This could be fixed with more money.
I have also attached the 1-pager of information from the Democratic Public Education Caucus of Florida (DPEC) and a link to the Florida Policy Institute's website with their updated estimates of the 2023 fiscal impacts broken down by school district -- Florida HB 1 (2023): Potential Fiscal Impacts (floridapolicy.org). Please contact the PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee members below before Thursday. (NOTE: I am using a new format for the legislators' telephone numbers based on a recommendation that this will make it easier to simply hover over the phone numbers in the email and click to make the call directly from a cell phone. Hope it works for you. The emails are batched below the phone numbers to make it easy to copy/paste into an email.) Josie Tomkow (R), Chair (850) 717-5051 Kaylee Tuck (R), Vice-Chair (850) 717-5083 Daniel Antonio "Danny" Alvarez, Sr. (R) (850) 717-5069 LaVon Bracy Davis (D) (850) 717-5040 Jennifer Canady (R) (850) 717-5050 Dan Daley (D) (850) 717-5096 Kimberly Daniels (D) (850) 717-5014 Lisa Dunkley (D) (850) 717-5097 Alina Garcia (R) (850) 717-5109 Karen Gonzalez Pittman (R) (850) 717-5065 Vicki Lopez (R) (850) 717-5113 Kiyan Michael (850) 717-5016 Alex Rizo (R) (850) 717-5112 John Paul Temple (R) (850) 717-5052 Patricia Hawkins-Williams (D) (850) 717-5098 Josie.Tomkow@myfloridahouse.gov; Kaylee.Tuck@myfloridahouse.gov; Danny.Alvarez@myfloridahouse.gov; LaVon.BracyDavis@myfloridahouse.gov; Jennifer.Canady@myfloridahouse.gov; Dan.Daley@myfloridahouse.gov; Kimberly.Daniels@myfloridahouse.gov; Lisa.Dunkley@myfloridahouse.gov; Alina.Garcia@myfloridahouse.gov; Karen.Pittman@myfloridahouse.gov; Vicki.Lopez@myfloridahouse.gov; Kiyan.Michael@myfloridahouse.gov; Alex.Rizo@myfloridahouse.gov; John.Temple@myfloridahouse.gov; Pat.Williams@myfloridahouse.gov Thank you, Jean Siebenaler LEGISLATIVE CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC WOMEN'S CLUB OF FLORIDA CITRUS:
Tallahassee #: (850) 717-5034
District #: (352) 527-4510
Florida State House - District 23
State Senator Blaise Ingoglia (R)
Ingoglia.Blaise.web@flsenate.gov
Tallahassee #: (850) 487-5011
District #: (352) 666-5707
Florida Senate District 11
