Jackie Toledo’s Romance With “School Choice” – Right Temperament for County Commission
Jackie Toledo wants to help govern Hillsborough County. Her six years in the Florida House offer voters a record of how she approached that responsibility, including who controlled public money and how much authority Tallahassee exercised over local institutions. Education provides a particularly revealing example. Year after year, Toledo voted to expand programs that directed state education funding toward private schools while also supporting measures that changed how local school districts operated and spent their money. She has consistently favored control from Tallahassee.
Toledo’s record shows a clear pattern.
In 2017, during her first legislative session, she voted for HB 7069. This wide-ranging education bill created the Schools of Hope program, expanded charter school policies, and required school districts to share some locally raised capital funds with eligible charter schools. The state set aside about $140 million for these provisions, including Schools of Hope.
It seemed struggling public schools needed competition more than funding.
A year later, Toledo supported another major bill, HB 7055. This law created the Hope Scholarship, which let eligible students who reported certain incidents in public schools receive scholarships to attend another public or eligible private school. The bill also expanded other scholarship programs and changed charter school rules. Toledo voted yes on the final House vote.
Then came the bigger shift.
In 2019, Toledo voted for SB 7070, which created the Family Empowerment Scholarship. Unlike scholarships funded only by private donations with tax credits, this program used money from Florida’s main public school funding system, the Florida Education Finance Program. The House passed the bill 76–39.
A year later, Toledo supported HB 7067, which expanded the scholarship system again. The law changed who could get the Family Empowerment Scholarship and allowed the program to grow, while ensuring some students using other scholarships could keep their eligibility. The House passed it 81–39.
By 2021, apparently there was still room on the accelerator.
Toledo supported HB 7045, another major school-choice expansion. It increased Family Empowerment Scholarship awards to 100 percent of the calculated FEFP amount, raised income eligibility, removed the previous public-school attendance requirement for many applicants, expanded eligibility, and folded additional scholarship programs into the system. The law specified that these scholarships would use state FEFP funds rather than local funds. The House passed it 79–36.
That distinction matters. Toledo did not vote to empty Hillsborough’s local property-tax account into private schools. She did repeatedly vote to build and expand a system in which state education dollars could follow students away from traditional public schools.
Consider the timeline.
- 2017: Charter expansion and Schools of Hope.
- 2018: Another scholarship program.
- 2019: Family Empowerment Scholarships.
- 2020: Further expansion.
- 2021: Broader eligibility and larger awards.
Whatever one thinks of Florida’s school-choice experiment, Jackie Toledo’s position during her legislative career is not difficult to find. She repeatedly voted for its expansion. Public schools, meanwhile, kept the small nuisance of educating every child who walked through the door.
Apparently, “choice” is easier to fund when someone else remains responsible for everything the choice system leaves behind.
That raises a fair question now that Toledo wants to help govern Hillsborough County: when local needs collide with Tallahassee’s priorities, whose interests come first? Her legislative record gives voters plenty to examine. She repeatedly backed policies that shifted authority upward to the state and expanded systems that moved public education dollars away from traditional public schools.
County government deals with people who do not fit neatly into anyone’s preferred policy model. Housing, transportation, public safety, growth, social services, and infrastructure all involve people who still need government to function, even after ideology has finished making its point. Toledo’s record in Tallahassee is worth remembering as voters decide what kind of local government they want now.
The question for voters is: do we really want someone who has clearly favored Tallahassee control over someone who works for local residents? Toledo’s legislative record makes clear where her priorities lie, and it’s not in Hillsborough County.
Sources
- Florida House HB 7069 (2017), Education House Education Committee, final bill analysis. Covers Schools of Hope, charter-school expansion, funding, and changes to local capital funding. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2017/7069/Analyses/h7069z1.EDC.PDF
- Florida House HB 7055 (2018), Education Florida Senate’s official bill summary. Covers the Hope Scholarship, other scholarship programs, and charter-school changes. https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/billsummaries/2018/html/7055
- Florida Senate SB 7070 (2019), K-12 Education Official summary of the legislation establishing the Family Empowerment Scholarship. https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/BillSummaries/2019/html/7070
- Florida House HB 7067 (2020), K-12 Scholarship Programs Official summary documenting expanded scholarship eligibility and increased program growth. https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/BillSummaries/2020/html/7067
- Florida House HB 7045 (2021), School Choice Official summary documenting expanded eligibility, higher scholarship amounts, and changes to program funding. https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/billsummaries/2021/html/7045
