ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis launching new effort Friday to help students from low-income families.

  • Gov. DeSantis to expand programs to help students go to private schools
  • Creation of Equal Opportunity Scholarships 
  • Watch the announcement here
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The governor announced a new scholarship program to complement the current program and accomodate 14,000 qualified students on a scholarship wait list. 

The announcement took place at Calvary City Academy, a private Christian school in Orlando's Oak Ridge community where hundreds of students have scholarships to attend Calvary City Academy.

The governor is expanding programs to help students enroll in schools like Calvary City.

DeSantis announced the creation of Equal Opportunity Scholarships to go along with the Tax Credit Scholarships. 

"I here to announce today that in my budget, we're going to be submitting some language to supplement the budget to provide a way for all families on the wait list to have accessto scholarships," DeSantis said. "The Equal Opportunity Scholarship is a complement to the Tax Credit Scholarship."

For years, there have been calls to expand that program, but doing that could take state funding, and the state Supreme Court has ruled that would be unconstitutional.

However, DeSantis has been able to replace the entire liberal wing of the court with three conservative leaning justices, which could help Republican leaders expand school choice this year.

Critics are concerned that could hurt public schools.