A Koch-connected school choice contractor could get $2 million from Florida taxpayers
A last-minute budget earmark pushed by House Speaker Danny Perez orders the hiring of a vendor to implement a new system of federally funded private school scholarships.
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A brand-new company backed by a venture capital fund connected to right-wing billionaire Charles Koch could get $2 million from Florida taxpayers under an eleventh-hour earmark that top lawmakers have agreed to add to the new state budget.
Pushed by House Speaker Danny Perez (R-Miami), the provision orders the Florida Department of Education to procure an online platform that can be used to implement a new system of federally funded private school scholarships created by the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the mammoth tax-and-spending package that President Donald Trump signed into law last year.
The budget instructions do not reference a specific vendor. But they do explicitly require the procurement of a “Unified Program Management Infrastructure” — the precise term currently being trademarked by a company called “LearningSpring,” a Denver-based startup that peddles software to state governments to administer school choice programs like private school vouchers, education savings accounts, and tax-credit scholarships
LearningSpring formally launched one month ago — immediately after landing an investment from Stand Together Ventures Lab, an early-stage investment firm that is part of billionaire megadonor Charles Koch’s sprawling “Stand Together” network of political advocacy, philanthropic and for-profit organizations.
Stand Together Ventures Lab is technically known as “STVL3 LLC.” Tax records show it is primarily owned by Stand Together Trust, one of the main entities in the Koch network.
Stand Together did not disclose the size of its investment in LearningSpring.
Ahead of its public launch, LearningSpring hired lobbyists to work the Florida Legislature. State records show that the company brought the lobbyists aboard in early December, about a month before the start of the 2026 legislative session.
Representatives for LearningSpring did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did a spokesperson for Perez, the House speaker.
Perez’s budget negotiating team did not publicly reveal the $2 million school choice earmark until about 10 pm on Sunday night. That was just before Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton (R-Wauchula) finalized a deal on the new state budget after months of delays.
The entire Legislature is expected to vote on the roughly $115 billion spending plan on Friday.
Koch destroyed America by instituting Citizens United
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Koch Brothers and Citizens United
Yes — the Koch brothers, Charles and David Koch, have been directly linked to Citizens United and its 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. FEC.
Citizens United is a conservative nonprofit political advocacy group founded in 1988 that produced the legal challenge to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002, which sought to limit corporate and union spending in federal elections. The group’s legal team argued that the law violated the First Amendment, and in 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in their favor, allowing corporations and unions to make unlimited independent expenditures in elections Wikipedia.
Koch connections:
In 2012, Senator Bernie Sanders publicly accused the Koch brothers of being “Exhibit A” in the case against Citizens United, citing reports that the Kochs planned to spend $400 million on political campaigns — more than the total funds raised by the last Republican presidential candidate — and that this spending was part of a broader effort to influence elections through Citizens United-style spending Senator Bernie Sanders.
The Kochs’ political action committee, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), has long supported Citizens United’s mission and legal strategy, aligning with its conservative, pro-corporate agenda In These Times.
AFP and other Koch-linked groups have funded Citizens United’s advocacy work, including producing political ads and supporting candidates who advance its positions
ugh -> "But they do explicitly require the procurement of a “Unified Program Management Infrastructure” — the precise term currently being trademarked by a company called “LearningSpring,” a Denver-based startup that peddles software to state governments to administer school choice programs like private school vouchers, education savings accounts, and tax-credit scholarships"