December 4, 2014 11:20AM 

# Exposing an Error-Filled Editorial against Educational Choice 

By [Jason Bedrick](https://www.cato.org/people/jason-bedrick) 

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Over the weekend, Florida’s *Sun-Sentinel* [editorialized](http://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-editorials-school-vouchers-20141129-story.html) against Florida’s scholarship tax credit law. But, as I [detail at *Education Next* today](http://educationnext.org/fact-checking-sun-sentinel-school-choice/), the editorial was rife with errors, distortions, and omissions of crucial context. Here’s just one example of many:

> Rather than put the scholarship tax credit law in the context of Florida’s overall education spending, the *Sun-Sentinel* compares it to… Iowa.
> 
> 
> “No state has a bigger voucher \[sic\] system. Last year, Florida spent $286 million on just 2.7 percent of all students. Iowa spent $13.5 million on 2.6 percent of its students.”
> 
> 
> Setting aside the fact that the state of Florida did not “spend” even one red penny on the scholarships, this comparison is misleading. Do the editors at the *Sun-Sentinel* really believe that Iowa has as many students as Florida? If so, why haven’t they decried the fact that Florida spends more than $25 billion on its public schools while Iowa spends barely [$5 billion](https://www.educateiowa.gov/sites/files/ed/documents/2013ConditionOfEducation.pdf)? Perhaps because Florida has [more than five times](http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_236.30.asp) the number of students?
> 
> 
> Comparing apples to apples, fewer than 10,500 students received tax-credit scholarships in Iowa last year compared to more than 69,000 in Florida. And while the tax-credit scholarships are larger in Florida than Iowa – about [$4,660](http://www.edchoice.org/School-Choice/Programs/Florida-Tax-Credit-Scholarship-Program.aspx) on average versus about [$1,090](http://www.edchoice.org/School-Choice/Programs/School-Tuition-Organization-Tax-Credit.aspx) on average – they are dwarfed by the more than [$10,000 per pupil](http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_236.75.asp) spent on average at Florida public schools.

The *Sun-Sentinel* owes its readers and the public a full and detailed retraction.

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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