Florida lawmaker claims taxpayer cash is going to help fund Islamic Sharia schools
Florida's Attorney General has slammed a policy which allows cash vouchers to be handed over to Islamic schools which 'promote sharia law.'
Attorney General James Uthmeier decried the use of taxpayer-funded vouchers at Islamic-only schools across the state.
'Sharia law seeks to destroy and supplant the pillars of our republican form of government and is incompatible with the Western tradition,' he wrote on X.
'The use of taxpayer-funded school vouchers to promote sharia law likely contravenes Florida law and undermines our national security.'
The policy was expanded in 2023 and has been largely defended by Republicans, who have supported the cash flowing to primarily private, Christian campuses.
It allows Florida families, regardless of income, to apply for vouchers to help fund private school tuition at academies that accept them. Dating back to 1999, these vouchers were available to low-income students.
Some of the Christian schools who benefit from the vouchers ban gay students and also enforce strict gender-specific dress codes, according to the Orlando Sentinal.
Overall, the program funnels more than $3billion each year to as many as 2,000 private campuses throughout Florida. A small proportion of the schools are Muslim.
Attorney General James Uthmeier decried the use of taxpayer-funded vouchers at Islamic-only schools across the state
Uthmeier shared a post suggesting some of the Muslim schools are operating with and promoting 'sharia law'
Students receive up to $8,500 annually to cover the costs of private school tuition.
Uthmeier did not name any schools on the program which supposedly advocate and impose sharia law, which is a system derived from the Quran that dictates how a Muslim person behaves.
His X post included a video originally posted by the founder of the RAIR foundation of a Tampa-area school principal speaking in Arabic about the voucher program.
In the video, which had English subtitles, the school principal was reportedly discussing the challenges Islamic educators face and the religious teachings of his school.
'Thank God there are scholarships here in Florida,' he reportedly says.
As many as 300,000 students in Florida use the vouchers to attend 2,278 private school campuses.
Around 24 of these programs are Islamic, which the majority are Christian.
The program is run by Step up for Students, and applies to any Florida students for grades K-12 to attend a private school.
Republicans have been advocating against Muslim schools receiving state funding
Uthmeier is not alone in his stance on the matter. He was backed by Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson
Uthmeier is not alone in his stance on the matter. Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson shared the Attorney General's X post with a message of his own, writing: 'Schools that indoctrinate sharia law should not be a part of our taxpayer-funded school voucher program.'
Simpson championed the vouchers during his 10-year tenure in the Senate, and argued in 2021 that he wanted 'school choice to be an option for every family.'
Hiba Rahim, deputy executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Florida, told the Orlando Sentinal that Republicans' contrasting attitudes depending on whether the money was flowing to Christian or Muslim schools conflicted with the First Amendment.
'The direct targeting of Islamic schools is both discriminatory and unconstitutional,' she said.
'Muslim parents send their children to Islamic schools for exactly the same reasons that Christian parents send their children to Christian schools.
'It is for the preservation of values that are important to them.'
