![]() ![]() ![]() “Doug Tuthill brags about the things that his company can do, but can’t. On another thread a mom explained that parents have been frustrated by the management of the scholarship programs for years and parents have expressed those concerns to lawmakers. ![]() On Facebook and Twitter, SUFS admitted they were “aware of the challenges with the first quarterly scholarship payments” and advised parents to “continue to watch your email closely this week for updates.” Families responded with a slew of long held grievances. For the record, the first quarter payments for $4,000 students amounts to, all together, approximately $10 million (using $10,000 as the estimated funding for the Gardiner recipient). Families are asking questions and the answers they are receiving from the FLDOE and various SUFS representatives differ. It appears that as many as 4000 students, many prior Gardiner recipients who were promised their child’s funding would remain secure, will have their first quarter funding delayed because of some sort of snafu with their “cross check,” which is required to ensure the child is not simultaneously enrolled in a public school. It is unclear what the problem is exactly. Oh, and by statute, renewals get funded first, yet they are the ones NOT funded and NEW students have been funded.” 25% of eligible students were NOT funded, and are being told they will need to wait until November for the error to be fixed. Funding for this year’s scholarship was increased to accommodate 20k students with unique abilities. ![]() We told them that SUFS systems couldn’t handle it, but the CEO went on television and said they could, so we parents that struggle every day with using the system were pushed to the sidelines, and treated like over-reacting hysterical crazies. “Last spring, legislators in their “infinite wisdom”, decided to ignore parent and provider concerns, and re-write the legislation, expanding the scholarship through the state. Posted by a Gardiner parent on Facebook yesterday: If HB7045 was so great for families of children with disabilities, then why are they so upset right now? This will be the beginning of chipping away at something this legislature set up to support our fellow citizens that have children with the most significant disabilities,” HB7045 went on to pass the House and Senate, without addressing the Gardiner family concerns, and was signed into law by Governor Desantis ( twice!). That is a fact and that is a truth regardless of what folks standing at that podium say.” You can watch the exchange at 1:08:00).ĭespite testimony from Camille Gardiner (the Gardiner scholarship was named for her husband, former Senate President, Andy Gardiner) warning “there are so many unintended consequences in this bill. The second truth is more kids with unique abilities will be served.” He insisted more money would go to children on McKay and Gardiner and that “the bill expands choice for children with disabilities. The first truth is more families will be served. Chris Latvala (R-67) believed the speakers had not been “told the whole truth about this bill.” He said “There are 2 truths to this bill. Last session, when Gardiner families travelled to Tallahassee to testify against HB7045, which massively expanded and reorganized Florida’s existing voucher programs, formally eliminating the Gardiner program for students with disabilities and combining it with the needs based Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES), their concerns were dismissed as being uninformed. When a politically connected non-profit manages a $1 billion public program with little to no oversight, what could go wrong? ![]()
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