TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is pressuring Catholic schools to recognize parents’ religious objections to required childhood vaccinations, warning that schools refusing to do so could lose access to state-funded education scholarships.
In a letter to the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, Uthmeier argued that Florida’s school-immunization law applies to public and private schools and requires them to honor religious exemptions issued through county health departments.
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“I therefore urge Catholic schools to comply with Florida law and grant religious exemptions to school vaccine policies,” Uthmeier wrote.
The attorney general, who is Catholic, also invoked church teachings on individual conscience to challenge policies adopted by some Catholic dioceses. His letter cited the Catechism, scripture and statements from the Vatican in arguing that Catholic teaching does not require vaccination in every circumstance.
Some church-run schools have taken a different position. The Diocese of Orlando’s published policy requires students to provide proof of immunization and says its Catholic schools “do not recognize a religious objection” to vaccination.
The policy reasons that immunization is not contrary to Catholic teaching and that exemptions could place students, school employees and others at greater risk.
The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops has not yet offered a detailed response to Uthmeier’s legal or theological arguments.
“We are reviewing the letter and will respond to the Attorney General by his requested date of August 7,” conference communications director Michele Taylor said.
Scholarship funding enters the dispute
Uthmeier is backing his demand with potential financial consequences.
His letter warns that schools refusing to recognize religious exemptions could jeopardize their eligibility for Florida’s education scholarship programs, commonly described as school vouchers. More than half a million Florida students now use the programs to attend private schools, including a significant share of Catholic-school students.
During the 2025-26 school year, approximately 92% of Florida Catholic-school students used a state school-choice scholarship, according to enrollment data highlighted by Step Up For Students.
Participating private schools must comply with applicable state and local health and safety requirements. Under Florida’s scholarship-accountability law, the education commissioner can suspend or revoke a school’s participation for certain violations, although schools can receive time to correct some instances of noncompliance.
The Florida Department of Education, not the attorney general, oversees private-school participation in the scholarship programs. No Catholic school has been removed from a program as a result of the dispute, and Uthmeier’s letter does not itself cut off funding.
Existing exemptions remain in place
Florida currently requires students to receive vaccines against specified communicable diseases before attending public or private K-12 schools. Parents may seek medical exemptions or obtain a religious-exemption form through a county health department.
The Florida Department of Health says the religious exemption is available when immunization conflicts with the religious tenets or practices of a child’s parent or guardian. The form must be presented before the student enters, attends or transfers to a school.
The confrontation follows Gov. Ron DeSantis’ announcement in September 2025 of a broader effort to eliminate Florida’s remaining school-vaccine requirements.
“Different children may have different needs, and we ought to be empowering parents rather than trying to take away the rights of parents,” DeSantis said at the time.
Lawmakers did not complete that effort during the 2026 regular session. A proposal creating a broader exemption for parents who objected to vaccination as a matter of conscience passed the Senate but died in the House. Medical and religious exemptions remain available under current law.
Democrat calls demand a distraction
State Rep. Daryl Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale, accused Uthmeier of improperly inserting himself into a religious dispute.
“Our AG is stuck between wanting to be an appointed AG or wanting to be a pope,” Campbell said.
Campbell also characterized the confrontation as a distraction from economic concerns confronting Florida families.
“We’re over here focused on trying to afford things,” he said. “Affordability has been the crisis of our generation.”
The bishops’ conference has until Friday to answer Uthmeier. For now, the possibility of losing scholarship eligibility remains a warning rather than an active funding cutoff.
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