The state is allocating about $766 million for vouchers in the county, compared with $737 million for public and charter schools. More than 300,000 students attend Miami-Dade public and charter schools, while about 82,000 attend private schools.

The amounts work out to roughly $8,000 per voucher student and less than $3,000 per public-school student from the state funding being compared. Those figures do not represent all school spending: Florida public schools also rely heavily on local property-tax revenue.

The difference has renewed debate over Florida’s school-choice policy and how education dollars should be distributed. Crystal Etienne, a teacher who founded the public-school advocacy group Eduvoter Action Network, questioned how voucher money is tracked, saying private schools do not face the same accountability for spending those public funds.

Miami-Dade School Board member Roberto Alonso said many families want the option of faith-based schools and defended parents’ choice. He also said the state’s complicated public-school funding formula should be updated to reflect current economic and demographic conditions.

In 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation expanding eligibility for Florida’s Empowerment Scholarships to families regardless of income. At the time, he argued that scholarship payments were lower than the per-student amount that would otherwise go to public schools. In Miami-Dade, the current state-funding comparison runs counter to that claim, though it does not include the full mix of local and state resources supporting public education.

More than 500,000 Florida students use taxpayer-funded vouchers to attend private schools statewide, at a cost exceeding $4 billion. Meanwhile, declining school enrollment—linked in the report to families moving out of South Florida, lower immigration and falling birth rates—could add pressure to revisit how the state funds schools. The issue may come before lawmakers in the next legislative session.