Bella Line
•6/11/2026
LEE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK)—A lawsuit filed in May is challenging Florida's school voucher program.
The lawsuit was filed by a statewide teachers union against the Department of Education claiming billions of taxpayer dollars are being taken away from public schools for private schools. The lawsuit targets the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program.
The lawsuit claims the voucher program is pulling $5 billion away from public education and giving it to private schools.
Kevin Daly with the Teachers Association of Lee County said the issue isn't parent choice—it's how taxpayer money is spent.
"The amount of teachers you need is directly related to the students you have. If you have fewer students, you'll need fewer teachers and bus drivers and cafeteria workers. It kind of goes straight down the line," Daly said.
In 2023, the voucher program expanded eligibility to all kindergarten through 12th grade students.
Samantha Dupree owns Homeschool Haven of Southwest Florida and said their students receive scholarships and it has opened new doors for families in Lee County.
"I'm all for, you know, funding of education, but it's like, are we funding a system, are we funding a child?” Explained Dupree. “That's really what the question should be, you know, are we are why are we so worried about where these children are getting their education?"
Daly argues if private schools receive the dollars, they should have the same oversight as public schools.
"The rule has always been, if you're going to take public's tax, public tax dollars, then there's a level of public accountability that comes with that," Daly said.
The Diocese of Venice said the program has allowed families the opportunity to access Catholic education—something they may not have had before. Superintendent Father John Belmonte said in a statement, "The Diocese of Venice has the highest increase in enrollment for Catholic schools in the country; each of our 15 schools is full, with a total of more than 6,000 students overall."
"Every parent should have the right to their child's education, how they learn, where they learn, and what they learn. So, these, these scholarships ultimately just give us the opportunity to be able to do things that we probably couldn't have done before," Dupree said.
Lee County, Charlotte County and Collier County schools did not want to speak on the pending lawsuit.
WINK News also reached out to the Florida Department of Education and has yet to hear back.
The courts will decide if the voucher program as it sits is constitutional, and no hearing date has been announced yet.
