Even Southern States Should Worry About Migration to Florida

Low taxes, pro business policies and school choice! BAM.

Even Southern States Should Worry About Migration to Florida

School choice attracted the Quigley family, who were otherwise inclined to move to Georgia.

By William Mattox, WSJ

April 3, 2026 2:08 pm ET

At first blush, there’s little reason for state legislators in Mississippi and Georgia to care about James Quigley’s cross-country move with his family to Florida from Washington state. But legislators in Jackson and Atlanta, and other capitals, may want to ask themselves: Are there education-minded families here who would move to Florida for better K-12 options, as the Quigleys did?

For Mr. Quigley, the breaking point was when his teenage son told him he planned to skip school often during his senior year, knowing he’d graduate regardless. When the tech industry executive met with his son’s guidance counselor, the school confirmed that it rarely withheld diplomas from chronically absent pupils, lest these students suffer later in life.

Incredulous, Mr. Quigley removed his children from the public schools. Soon thereafter, he and his wife began a multistate search for a better learning environment.

The Quigleys fell in love with southern Georgia, but the schooling options there paled in comparison with what they found across the border in Florida. A crucial factor: robust school-choice scholarship programs that give parents control of how their children’s per pupil dollars are spent.

“We couldn’t believe Florida’s school-choice programs,” Mr. Quigley said. “They seemed too good to be true.” Two years later, the Quigleys are reveling in the Sunshine State’s education freedom.

One of their three school-age children is enrolled in a program designed for special-needs students. Another spends her time learning at home, with the help of a tutor, all paid for with scholarship money. And the third divides his time between learning at home and taking classes at the local public school, where he plays on the football team.

If the Quigleys’ story sounds remarkable, it isn’t—at least not in Florida. For the past five years, the Sunshine State has welcomed a stream of education-minded families who, thanks to the rise of remote work, can now move and live anywhere. During the pandemic, many of these “digital nomads” sought out Florida because it was one of the few states that reopened schools quickly.

The stream of education-minded newcomers didn’t stop with the end of Covid. Many Florida private schools have reported increases in new students coming from other states in recent years. More than 500,000 Florida students now participate in a scholarship program, and 53% of the K-12 student population in Florida in the 2024-25 school year attended something other than their zoned public school.

The rise of school choice in the Sunshine State has changed the way Florida markets itself. Chamber of Commerce groups once relied exclusively on appeals to business leaders. Now, some outreach efforts focus on showing families the K-12 scholarship opportunities.

In recent months, the Florida-based organization for which I work has posted billboards in Georgia and Mississippi inviting folks interested in education freedom to “Join Us.” Next month, we will send postcards to selected neighborhoods in Virginia with a similar message.

We hope leaders in other states will join Florida in adopting robust school-choice scholarship programs. But if legislators elsewhere fail to act, Florida will invite their education-minded families to join us in the Sunshine State.

Florida is here for families who, like the Quigleys, highly value education opportunities. To the rest of the nation we say, “Join Us.”

Mr. Mattox is senior director of the Marshall Center for Education Freedom at the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee, Fla.