Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stopped in Jacksonville Wednesday afternoon to highlight the state’s new Family Empowerment Scholarship Program.
He said the program was created to fund scholarships for all of the 28,000 students on a voucher wait-list. That includes several thousand special-needs children waiting for Gardiner scholarships.
DeSantis spoke to students, parents and staff at the North Florida School of Special Education in Arlington.
“Based on the new budget that has passed and that I’ll sign shortly, the Gardner waiting list is no more,” said DeSantis.
Gardiner scholarships for special-needs students can be used for private school tuition, as well as for instructional materials, specialized therapies and homeschooling costs.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.