Where to send your child to school has been a hot topic in Florida for decades, since charter schools were first introduced to the state in 1996 and the direction of public funds to private schools began in 1999. The proliferation of magnet programs in school districts has paired well with those two elements to ensure that Florida ranks first in school choice across the country.
“The Florida parent is a very savvy education consumer,” said Lynn Norman-Teck, executive director of the Florida Charter School Alliance. “You’ve got magnets that are over 50 years old operating in the state, which are very successful. You’ve got charter schools with over 27 years under their belt. So I compare K-12 today to the university system.”
(LinkedIn)
Lynn Norman-Teck, Florida Charter Schools Alliance
That debate is now heating up as public school curriculum continues to face massive transformations at the state level. Pair those changes with the recent expansion of the Family Empowerment Scholarship and private schools become the talk of the town.
Private School Life
Each institution has its advantages. Free from the shackles of state admission requirements and education standards, private schools often boast smaller classroom sizes and freedom in curriculum.
The Cushman School, for instance, Miami-Dade County’s oldest, continuously operating private school located in the Upper East Side, has a typical student-teacher ratio of 8 to 1. North Miami Beach’s Allison Academy has an average classroom size of 15 students or less, while Belen Jesuit Preparatory School has an 11:1 faculty-to-student ratio.
Miami-Dade County’s public schools, on the other hand, have an average classroom size of 20 students, which is greater than the state’s average of 18. Some schools exceed that number regularly.
Private schools with higher tuition also have the ability to invest more into the school’s resources. Allison Academy’s tuition is $19,950 per year – nearly double the state’s $10,000 average. Its principal, Sheidy Fernandez, explained how that money has been used for years in part to purchase advanced technology to keep up with a changing global environment.
The independent middle/high school has classes that teach students useful 21st-century skills, like web development and coding. The robotics club allows members to program robots to walk, speak and compute information. The school is also in its second year of achieving Apple certification, which will eventually put a MacBook or iPad into the hands of every Allison Academy student.
(FLSenate.gov)
Sen. Shevrin Jones
Unlike public schools, private schools also have the freedom to exceed, if not deviate, from the state’s standards for academia. Jose Roca, principal at Belen Jesuit, believes his school’s Catholic entrepreneurship program allows the school to stand out in the South Florida consortium, without imposing those practices on students who don’t follow the same faith.
“It just gives our Catholic families a premium choice for a school when it comes to academics and it comes to the Catholic identity,” said Roca.
Belen Jesuit additionally requires classes like art history, physics and Latin American history, which aren’t typically demanded of students who attend public schools.
State Requirements
In fact, it’s these very freedoms defining the private school life that have caused some to choose not to accept state funds and scholarships. According to the Florida Department of Education, private schools participating in state scholarship programs have to abide by certain rules and endure a level of scrutiny that they otherwise wouldn’t be subject to.
Private schools receiving public funds have to demonstrate fiscal soundness, comply with anti-discrimination provisions, employ teachers with certain levels of experience, perform background checks on faculty and staff, and administer standardized assessments to their students. Belen Jesuit, Allison Academy and the Cushman School are all currently enrolled with the state scholarship program.
In those cases, private schools begin to function a lot more like charter schools.
Charter schools are similar to private schools in that their students are not bound by geographical location, as those attending public “home schools” are. Although charter schools are public schools and are completely funded by the state, they, too, are able to craft their curriculum in a way that deviates from the government’s guidelines.
“Academically it’s the same model – you have to show academic progress for the students, they take the standard tests, your teachers need to be certified and background checked,” said Norman-Teck. “Those things are in place, no ifs, ands or buts. The freedom comes in how you get there, so charter schools have the freedom to choose a different method in teaching students.”
Those methods vary by school, and some charter schools are as well-rounded as any other public school, but oftentimes charter schools may have specific focuses like dual language or arts programs that define what they’re all about.
(AllisonAcademy.com)
Allison Academy’s robotics club teaches students how to program robots to walk, talk and compute information.
Charter schools essentially follow the same model as a magnet program in an otherwise traditionally public school. Miami-Dade County’s first magnet program began in 1973 when the Center for the Expressive Arts opened at Charles Drew Elementary School, according to Gabrielle Acosta, a media relations specialist at Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS).
“Today, Miami-Dade County Public Schools students in all grade levels can enjoy more than 370 magnet programs and specialized courses with unique thematic strands of study that focus on their interests, talents and abilities,” said Acosta.
Culture of Competition
Because parents have a plethora of choices when deciding where to send their children to school, Florida has developed a culture of competition that some argue isn’t as sustainable as many like to believe.
HB 1, which passed in the last legislative session and took effect July 1, 2023, removed enrollment caps and income eligibility requirements for the Family Empowerment Scholarship program. That means anybody and everybody now has the opportunity to receive an $8,000 voucher to attend the private school of their choice, although priorities are still placed on families whose income doesn’t exceed 185% of the federal poverty level.
Sen. Shevrin Jones, a former public school teacher in Broward County and a member of several legislative education committees, voted against HB 1 back in March. Although he’s a self-proclaimed supporter of school choice initiatives, he believes the Legislature was ill-prepared to pass a bill of this degree without knowing its true implications.
Jones expressed similar concern over the lack of clarity of the cost of the bill – which has now been projected to amount to roughly $4 billion for taxpayers – and how that money may be diverted from public school funds.
“Our public education system still works,” Jones said. “The teachers in our public education system need our guidance and the resources. Us stifling dollars away from the system – all that does is create more schools that will be under-enrolled, closing down schools.”
Conversely, some proponents of the bill have considered that decreased enrollment in public schools may provide for a more engaged and concentrated learning environment, utilizing the small classroom sizes that put private schools at an advantage in the first place.
Norman-Teck, whose charter school alliance also advocates for school choice initiatives, doesn’t submit to the idea that state funds directed to private schools take away from public schools.
“It’s not district money,” she said. “It’s money that the state assigns to every student. That
(BelenJesuit.org)
Students at Belen Jesuit enjoy small classroom sizes and high curriculum standards that require classes like art history, physics and Latin American history.
money should follow the child.”
Long-Term Implications
If the money indeed follows the child, then it’s up to the students to decide where that money is directed, meaning it’s up to the school to stand out in an ever-growing assortment of alternatives – at least that’s what proponents say.
“There is competition, but I believe that competition makes them better. You could fight them, or you could be better or just as good. When I think of competition, I don’t think of putting someone out of business. I think of everyone rising,” said Norman-Teck, commending former M-DCPS Superintendent Alberto Carvalho for welcoming charter schools while investing in magnet schools, promoting healthy competition between the two.
Unfortunately for some, however, school choice initiatives don’t apply. With or without a voucher, many low-income families can’t afford the high prices that private schools require, or they simply have no means of transportation to any school besides that which is closest to home.
“When you’re closing schools down in a community, sometimes that is the only access that some individuals have to a free lunch,” Jones said. “That’s the only access that some people have to get to eat during the day.”
It’s still too early to tell what kind of long-term effect HB 1 will have on the comprehensive school system. Allison Academy and Belen Jesuit both report stagnant application rates for the 2023-2024 school year, especially since the latter admitted its students in January – before the bill took effect.
(Facebook@miamicountrydayschool)
Miami Country Day School is another popular private school in the Biscayne Corridor with published annual tuition ranging from $24,000 - $43,420.
Besides, since private schools pride themselves on small classroom sizes, it’s unlikely that enrollment will increase due to the expanded voucher program. Its main effect may be to simply oversaturate school waiting lists, leaving those kids in public school and sending the rest of the money back to the state. In fact, some private schools have actually increased tuition amid the new bill to expand their budget while providing minimal, if any, relief to families.
Meanwhile, the Cushman School is on the verge of creating a national presence with its latest division, Cushman Virtual. Current in-person tuition ranges from $26,000 to $46,000. The school celebrates its 100th anniversary next year.