Florida Bars Voucher Dollars From Private Schools Tied to Designated Terror Groups

Florida is closing the door on any chance that its school-choice dollars end up supporting groups the state has labeled as terrorist organizations. The Florida Department of Education says private schools with ties to such groups will not receive voucher funds, and new rules now require every participating school to certify as much, The Center Square reported ^[1].

In a post this week, the department said those with "any affiliation with a terrorist group have no business operating in our state" ^[1].

What the New Rules Require

The State Board of Education approved amended rules last month to carry out HB 1471, a law passed by the Legislature this year ^[1]. The rules update the compliance form that private schools must file to take part in the state's scholarship programs ^[1].

Under the rules, a participating school may not employ or contract with people or entities affiliated with a designated terrorist organization, may not accept money from such groups, and may not be owned or operated by them ^[1]. The same restrictions apply to criminal gangs and other specified groups, and to anyone who has given material support to them or received it ^[1]. The department began the rulemaking in early September, starting with the Family Empowerment Scholarship ^[2].

The stakes are large because Florida's programs are the biggest in the nation. A legislative fiscal analysis estimates about $4.9 billion for 570,325 scholarships in the 2026-27 school year, with 2,477 private schools taking part and an average award of about $8,000 ^[1]. Schools that receive more than $250,000 a year must already file independent annual financial reports ^[1]. No school has been publicly identified as affected by the new rule.

How the Designations Came About

HB 1471 took effect July 1 after passing the House 80-25 and the Senate 25-11 ^[3]. It lets the state's chief of domestic security designate terrorist organizations, and it also bars schools affiliated with a designated group from receiving state K-12 scholarship money ^[3][5].

On Sept. 29, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet, including Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Brotherhood, antifa and the more than 90 groups already on the federal foreign terrorist list, including Tren de Aragua and Iran's Revolutionary Guard ^[3]. DeSantis said the designations provide an appropriate framework ^[3]. The state's case against CAIR cited the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing trial and the United Arab Emirates' 2014 designation of the group ^[4].

The designations took effect Nov. 5 ^[5]. That same day, U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor declined CAIR's request to block the label, writing that the Constitution does not prohibit legislation simply because it is new, though he barred the state from punitive action against CAIR, its employees or its lawyers ^[5]. Uthmeier called the ruling a great win ^[5].

Related Delray Beach's St. Patrick's Day Parade May Go Private Again as Florida's DEI Funding Ban Nears

The Other Side

CAIR and its allies are fighting back. The group's Florida chapter suspended operations and laid off about a dozen staff after the ruling, and CAIR says it will appeal ^[6]. An ACLU lawyer told CBS News Miami that the state offered no evidence CAIR has engaged in any violent or dangerous act ^[3]. A former State Department counterterrorism official noted that the federal government has never designated CAIR ^[4]. A former CAIR-Florida spokesman warned that if the governor can do this to CAIR, he can do it to any organization ^[6].

A separate federal judge, Mark Walker, blocked DeSantis's earlier executive order on CAIR in March, and the state's appeal of that ruling is still pending ^[5].

Why It Matters

For Florida parents, the rule is a common-sense guardrail on a program that sends billions of taxpayer dollars to private schools. School choice has thrived in Florida because families trust it, and that trust depends on knowing public money is not flowing to anyone with ties to violent movements.

The legal fight over CAIR's label will continue in the appeals courts, and it raises real questions about due process that the courts will have to answer. But the voucher rule itself rests on a simple principle most Floridians share: no school that takes state scholarship money should have anything to do with groups that the state has designated as terrorists.