Low-income families will have new opportunities for children’s education.
Gov. Ron DeSantis met with local students Thursday to explain the Family Empowerment Scholarship.
But funding for new state programs came on the heels of the Duval County School Board pushing for a half-cent sale tax increase to repair aging schools.
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Action News Jax first told you this week how the DCPS board passed a resolution for the half-cent sales tax to provide funding that would go toward aging schools.
Next, the resolution will go to City Council, which has a mixture of responses. For the first time, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry spoke about the half-cent sales tax.
“All I’ve seen is a proposal of about a $2 million new tax, waiting to see details,” Curry said. “Like any piece of legislation, this will have to go through city council, depending on where it ends up from city council, if it ends up on my desk, I’ll assess it at that time.”
The Duval County supervisor of elections said a special election could cost more than $1 million.
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“I do not support a special election for one referendum,” Curry said. “I think it’s too costly. But they’re going to have to make their case and work the body of the city council.”
A state program that would give new opportunities to Florida students is through the Family Empowerment Scholarship.
It is designed to help low to medium-income families afford the school of their choosing for their child.
Some Jacksonville parents said this scholarship has elevated their child’s education.
“That scholarship could put them in a place where I think beyond the education, catapults them to a future I think they may not have had in some other environments,” Samuel Coleman said.
Cox Media Group
