Students using school choice scholarships now make up nearly a third of K-12 students in Florida private schools.
According to final state figures released last week, 88,192 students attended private schools last year using McKay scholarships for students with disabilities or tax credit scholarships for low-income students. That’s 31.2 percent of the total private school enrollment, up from 28.4 percent in 2012-13 and 8.6 percent a decade ago.
Does it matter? At the least, the numbers help paint a more complete portrait of private schools in Florida. As we reported last month, overall private school enrollment in Florida is up slightly for the third straight year. But once Pre-K enrollment and school choice scholarships are factored out, the trend lines show the number of private-paying students in private schools declined for the ninth straight year.
Why are the numbers falling? We touched on this a bit last year. Could be lingering effects of the Great Recession. Could be growing numbers of middle-class families are priced out of private school tuition. Could be more of them are turning to charter schools. According to Florida Department of Education data requested by redefinED, 5,426 students left private schools for charter schools during the 2012-13 school year.
We don’t have data for other years, so we can’t be sure of the trend lines there. But all of this seems worthy of a closer look by all who value a strong public education system.
Here’s a quickie spreadsheet with the numbers. Here’s a few charts with highlights:
[…] you speaking out for more school choice right here in the great Centennial State. Take for instance some intriguing news from the nation’s largest (and second oldest) scholarship tax credit program: Students using […]
[…] About a third of private school enrollments in the state are students who receive tax-credit scholarships …, say new state figures. That’s far more than the 8.6 percent choice students a decade […]