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Fla. Private Schools Take a Hit
... as enrollment drops.
Private school enrollment is off 15.7% from its high. Meanwhile, charter and home school enrollments are setting records. |
Private school enrollment in Florida has fallen faster and further than public school enrollment. Though the numbers began dropping before the economy did, the recession and slowing in-migration from elsewhere in the United States receive most of the blame for the 4.2% dip last year and 15.7% drop since private enrollment peaked in 2003. But the rise of charter schools, which offer some of the advantages of private schools ? — smaller enrollments, local board governance, uniforms, parental involvement and mandatory parent “volunteer” hours — for free also is playing a role.
“$12,000 (in yearly tuition) versus zero is a pretty competitive edge,” says Skardon C. Bliss, executive director of the Florida Council of Independent Schools.
The private school enrollment drop likely will continue this year. Seven Catholic elementary schools, 12% of the total in the three-county Archdiocese of Miami, closed in June, affecting 998 students. A charter school operator, Miami-based Academica, leased six of the seven schools to run its academies; a separate charter school leased the seventh parochial school. Archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta says information is incomplete on how many of the students affected switched to another Catholic school, enrolled in the charter schools or moved to a traditional public school.
Enrollment Shifts |
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Year | Public Schools | Charter Schools | Private Schools | Home Schools |
1999-00 |
2,380,451 | 16,120 | 288,248 | 37,196 |
2000-01 |
2,434,403 | 25,989 | 348,736 | 41,128 |
2001-02 |
2,500,161 | 40,465 | 354,541 | 44,460 |
2002-03 |
2,539,932 | 53,016 | 377,701 | 45,333 |
2003-04 |
2,598,231 | 67,512 | 381,346 | 47,151 |
2004-05 |
2,638,127 | 82,531 | 366,742 | 51,110 |
2005-06 |
2,668,337 | 92,214 | 350,287 | 52,613 |
2006-07 |
2,662,701 | 98,755 | 349,059 | 55,822 |
2007-08 |
2,653,377 | 105,239 | 335,211 | 56,650 |
2008-09 | 2,628,754 | 117,602 | 321,298 | 60,913 |
Catholic school enrollment has fallen nearly 9% from its peak in 2005-06. James Herzog, Florida Catholic Conference associate director for education, says recent annual declines in Catholic school enrollment track the drop in public school enrollment and likely will fall 2% to 3% this year.
Private schools are working to market their strengths better, and leaders are encouraged by government programs that make it more financially feasible for parents of economically disadvantaged and disabled kids to attend private schools, Herzog says. Enrollment will rebound when Florida population growth resumes at its historical pace, he says.
Bliss, whose group represents 154 schools totaling 74,000 students, including elites such as Pine Crest in Fort Lauderdale, Bolles in Jacksonville and Gulliver in Miami, says enrollment at his member schools is down 4% in the last couple of years but that may be attributable to two Christian schools dropping membership rather than to a broad-based decline.
School districts in Florida above the state average of 10.9% private school enrollment: |
|
Jefferson |
27.5% |
Duval |
18.3% |
Leon |
14.7% |
Miami-Dade |
14.7% |
Bradford |
13.5% |
Pinellas |
13.4% |
Orange |
13.1% |
Broward |
12.9% |
Martin |
12.8% |
St. Lucie | 12.6% |
Escambia | 12.2% |
Alachua | 11.9% |
Palm Beach | 11.8% |
Brevard | 11.4% |
St. Johns | 11.2% |
While the decline in private enrollment statewide is noticeable, it only takes enrollment to the low end of historic bounds. The percentage of children in private schools has ranged from 10% to 13% in Florida’s recent past.