Q&A of the Day – Why Aren’t All of Florida’s Private Schools Accepting School Vouchers?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
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Today’s Entry: Brian: under the new FL state law regarding tuition vouchers, can a school deny this for its families? I was told that the head of school at Palm Beach Day Academy informed his families that the school wasn’t participating, yet the school is listed on the state’s Department of Education website as a “private” school and along with the other schools listed are in fact choices for interested parents. Like always, appreciate your daily input in my morning routine!
Bottom Line: Earlier this week I’d mentioned that I’d heard from several families who’d successfully and smoothly made use of Florida’s new universal school choice program. With this note it’s time to amend that statement. Though this isn’t an issue with the program itself, but rather confusion over private school participation. Your topic and your question are excellent as we’ve not addressed this angle previously and confusion over private school participation could impact many families who’re unaware of which private schools are and aren’t accepting school vouchers. Before diving into the details about how participation in Florida’s voucher program works, here’s a way of thinking about this... Florida now offers universal school choice, however schools aren’t universally accepting school choice vouchers. And actually, this isn’t anything new.
Florida’s long had the largest school choice program in the country – dating back to the implementation of school vouchers in 2005. Even with its size and scale however, only approximately 3% of Florida’s K-12 students participated in it. The previous version of the voucher program was available to families with limited income. As a result, many of the pricier private schools weren’t sought by participating families. The example of the Palm Beach Day Academy would be one of those. Tuition rates range from $21,500 to $38,000 at that school, meaning that even with the use of vouchers, families would need to account for a minimum of an additional $13,000 for their student to attend that school if they were participating in the voucher program. Now that we’ve entered the universal school choice era, where all families may make use of the tax dollars allocated for their children’s education at schools of their choice, the considerations are different for many families who already may have had students attending higher cost private schools, or perhaps those that may now intend to do so. As for private school participation in the choice program, here’s how that works.
Not all private schools are automatically eligible to participate in Florida’s voucher program. In order to participate, a school must first notify the Department of Education of their intention. If a school opts not to pursue the program with the state, that’s their prerogative. For schools which to apply for participation they must meet these guidelines of eligibility:
- Maintain a physical location where students regularly attend classes in Florida
- Demonstrate fiscal soundness by: Being in operation for at least 3 school years, or filing with the Department of Education a surety bond or letter of credit for the amount equal to the scholarship funds for any quarter.
- Comply with the state’s anti-discrimination law
- Employ or contract only with teachers who hold a baccalaureate or higher degree, or have at least three years of teaching experience in public or private schools, or have special skills, knowledge, or expertise that qualifies them to provide instruction in subjects taught.
- Submit a signed and notarized Scholarship Compliance Form certifying that all owners, operators, and chief administrative officers have undergone the required background screening and all school employees and contracted personnel with direct student contact have undergone the required background screening.
- Meet state and local health, safety, and welfare laws, codes, and rules.
It remains to be seen what participation levels will look like going forward in Florida (there’s no hard data on private school participation levels under the new law yet), however historically 60% of Florida’s private schools have opted into Florida’s school choice program. As for the directory, which as you’ve noted, includes the Palm Beach Day Academy which can be accessed from the directory under the Florida Department of Education’s website – I understand why it seems misleading. The site notes that the directory database “Was submitted by private schools as part of the annual survey requirement found in section 1002.42, Florida Statutes. The intent of the Legislature in creating the database was to provide “a service to the public” and not to “regulate, control, approve or accredit private educational institutions.” As such, the Department of Education does not verify the accuracy of the data submitted pursuant to the annual survey.” The state statues listed are about the annual private school survey – not school choice participation. That you can access the private school database, which includes non-participating private schools, from the school choice section of the website, could easily be confused. They should probably change the layout and I’ll provide them with the feedback.