May 12, 2008 12:34PM # Democrats for Educational Freedom By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) --- SHARE [A piece by Ron Matus ](http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/article500372.ece)in today’s *St. Petersburg Times* is the latest media acknowledgement of growing Democratic support for educational freedom. The expansion of Florida’s k‑12 scholarship donation tax credit program, which I [blogged about last week](https://www.cato.org/2008/05/05/florida-education-tax-credit-cap-raised/), was not a narrow party-line affair. The [bill was approved ](http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=38054&SessionId=57)by 82 to 34 in the House and by 30 to 9 in the Senate. One of the reasons for this shift is growing personal experience among Democratic lawmakers with the programs and the families who use them. > \[Democrat Bill\] Heller voted against the bill in committee. But then he visited the Yvonne C. Reed Christian School in St. Petersburg and talked to parents who use tax-credit vouchers. He said they changed his mind. Think about that. The more personal experience legislators have with market education reforms, the more likely they are to support their expansion. The more these programs expand, the more personal experience legislators will have with them.… Get the picture? Just another reason I expect to see real educational freedom in America in my lifetime. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).