Central Florida Lawmakers Propose Funding Increase for Private Schools
Local News Staff 
Two Central Florida Republican lawmakers have recently touted a “transformational” expansion of the state’s school voucher programs.
Some, however, now have raised the alarm bells as to the lawmakers' close ties to private schools that already receive hundreds of thousands of dollars from families who use state scholarships to pay tuition.
Newly elected Reps. Carolina Amesty, R-Windermere, and Doug Bankson, R-Apopka, both voted in committee last month for a bill (HB 1) that would offer “universal choice,” with the goal of eventually allowing parents of any school-age child to get state funds that could pay for private school tuition or homeschooling services.
Amesty is affiliated with Central Christian Academy, a private school on Hiawassee Road in west Orange County that has received at least $262,000 in scholarship money so far this school year and appears eager to expand. Last week, about a dozen bright blue “enroll now” signs dotted the property outside the school’s fence while bigger feather flags with the same message were visible on the campus.
Bankson is affiliated with Apopka Christian Academy, a private school in the city’s downtown that has received more than $926,000 in scholarships this school year.
Sourced from Orlando Sentinel
