TAMPA, Fla. — The words on the trophy read “Future Philanthropist,” and Mrs. Finley, who taught fifth grade that year, cried when she presented it to Andrew Weber during graduation.
Andrew smiled at the memory.
“It was one of the highlights of my elementary school career,” he said. “Mrs. Finley said I was one of her favorite students. That meant a lot to me.”
So did receiving the trophy, which still holds a place of honor on his nightstand.
“It made me realize my potential and how I can help others,” Andrew said.
Almost seven years later, Andrew, a 17-year-old senior, is nearing another graduation, this time from Jesuit High School, the Catholic school in Tampa he attends with the help of a Florida education choice scholarship.
The altruistic nature Mrs. Finley saw in Andrew when he was in elementary school blossomed during the ensuing years.
Jesuit’s mantra is “Men for Others,” and Andrew embodies that.
“He does 100%,” said Andy Wood, Jesuit’s athletic trainer and track and field coach, and the school’s former director of community service. “Andrew is one of our top students. And when you talk about a total package, including his community service work, being a student athlete, he's what we envision our seniors being at graduation.”
Andrew volunteered for eight service organizations while in high school.
He made two trips to an orphanage in Guatemala with his Jesuit classmates, feeds people at Metropolitan Ministries, and delivers Meals on Wheels with his mother, May.
He’s volunteered for the Faith Café, the Young Men’s Service League, Teens United Florida, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the Ryan Nece Foundation, a non-profit founded by a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer that empowers teens to become leaders through volunteering.
Andrew traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, last June with the Ryan Nece Foundation to help families with home repairs still needed after the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.
He is a pole vaulter on the track and field team, and in his spare time, he plays the piano at a local nursing home.
As a junior, Andrew received the Anne Frank Humanitarian Award from the Florida Holocaust Museum in Tampa for his outstanding humanitarian efforts.
Andrew’s parents, May and Tim, raised him and his older sister, Elise, to be community-minded. Elise, now a sophomore at the University of Georgia, also volunteered for the Ryan Nece Foundation while in high school.
“As his parents, we always wanted Andrew to be very involved in a lot of things and explore different passions, and luckily for him, many of those passions really stuck,” May said.
Andrew set the foundation in elementary school when he sold lemonade, handmade crafts, and rocks (crystals and gems) from a stand in the front yard of the family’s Tampa home. He said he would raise maybe $100 over several weeks and donate the money to charities such as Dogs Inc (formerly Southeastern Guide Dogs).
“I was 8,” he said. “I felt the money could benefit other people more than it could benefit me.”
“His heart was always generous,” May said.
For a teenager as service-oriented as Andrew, he certainly found a home at Jesuit, where students are required to complete a minimum of 150 hours of community service during their four years. Andrew, though, has accrued more than 500.
Yet, the decision to attend Jesuit was not easy.
“It was a very hard decision,” Andrew said.
His options were these: his district school, where Elise was a rising junior and where a lot of his friends were headed, or Jesuit, an all-male parochial school with demanding academic standards.
For help, Andrew turned to his role model: his big sister.
“She said, ‘Andrew, if you pass up this opportunity, you might regret it for the rest of your life.’ So I said, ‘I'm going to listen to you,’” Andrew said.
Thinking back on it now, Andrew added, “She was right.”
He has no regrets.
Andrew’s two trips to Orfanato Valle de Los Angeles (the Valley of the Angels orphanage) outside of Guatemala City with his classmates opened his eyes to how fortunate he is to live in America.
The orphanage did not have air conditioning, and hot water was spotty at best.
Wi-Fi? Yeah, right.
“I just put down my phone and started living in the environment, living how these kids live, and I realized that life can be fun,” Andrew said.
The Jesuit students spent nine days with at-risk children, teaching them English and about their faith.
Andrew called the experience “life-changing.”
“In Tampa, we really live in a bubble,” he said. “There are things I don’t take for granted anymore.”
Like AC, hot water, and a strong Wi-Fi signal.
And how a simple act of kindness can make a world of difference in someone’s day.
During the summers, he and his mom deliver Meals on Wheels to older adults and others unable to leave their homes without difficulty. It’s a bonding moment between the two, quality time spent together for a mom and her son.
“It's probably my favorite thing that we have done together,” May said.
“It’s the favorite thing that I do,” Andrew said.
They don’t rush through their route. Instead, they spend a few minutes at each stop, checking on the people receiving the meal, making small talk, and letting them know they matter.
When they first started delivering the meals, May told Andrew: “We’re probably the only people they're going to talk to that day, so even though this is sort of a blip on your radar, this is their day; this is their weekend; this is their week. So, make it count.”
Andrew took that lesson to heart.
A man for others.
“I feel like if I were in that situation where I needed help, I obviously want someone to do the same thing for me,” he said. “Spreading Jesuit’s values across what I do is a big part of why I do it. What I've learned here, it really propels me to do what I do in such a great way.”
Andrew wants to major in business in college. Where? He hasn’t decided. His choices are the University of Georgia, the University of Tennessee, Boston College, and Florida State University.
Where will that major lead him? He’s not sure.
“I can tell you it will be with people,” May said. “Whether it's finance or accounting, marketing or entrepreneurship, his love is working with people. I think it's just what comes naturally to him. He motivates people and makes people feel better about themselves. So, that’s my prediction.”
Keith Jacobs II, affectionately called "Deuce," with his parents, Keith and Xonjenese Jacobs. Photos courtesy of the Jacobs family
When our son Keith — affectionately known as “Deuce” — was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at age 3, we were told he might never speak beyond echolalia (the automatic repetition of words or phrases). Until age 5, echolalia was all we heard.
But Deuce found his voice, and with it, a unique way of seeing the world.
He needed to find the right learning environment, with the assistance of a Florida education choice scholarship.
Deuce spent his early academic years in a district public school, supported by an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Despite the accommodations, learning remained a challenge. We realized that for some, a student’s success requires more than paperwork. It requires community, compassion, and collaboration with the parents.
Imagine having words in your head but lacking the ability to communicate when you need it most. That was Deuce’s experience in public school. His schools gave him limited exposure to social norms and rigor in the classroom. Additionally, through his IEP, he always needed therapy services throughout the school day, which limited his ability to take electives and courses he enjoyed.
His mother and I instilled the importance of having a strong moral compass and working hard toward his social and academic goals. Although we appreciated his time in public school, we knew a change was needed to prepare him for post-secondary education. We applied and were approved for the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities.
Knowing the potential tradeoffs of leaving public school and the IEP structure behind, we chose to enroll Deuce at Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School in Spring Hill, about 35 miles north of Tampa. We believed the nurturing, faith-based environment would help him thrive. It was the right decision.
Catholic school provided Deuce with the support he needed to maximize his potential. Despite his autism diagnosis, he was never limited at Bishop. He was accepted into their AP Capstone Program. This was particularly challenging, but Bishop was accommodating. The school provided him with an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) case manager dedicated to his success, and he received a student support plan tailored to his diagnosis and learning style. The school didn’t lower expectations; instead, it empowered him to take rigorous coursework with the right guidance.
Any transition for a child with autism will take time to adjust. On the first day, I received a call: Deuce had walked out of class. This was due to his biology teacher using a voice amplifier. The sound overwhelmed Deuce’s senses, and he began “stimming”— rapidly blinking and tapping his hands. Instead of punishing him or ignoring the issue, the staff immediately reached out.
Together, we crafted a Student Success Plan tailored to Deuce’s needs, drawing from his public school IEP without being bound by it. His plan included preferential seating, frequent breaks, verbal and nonverbal cueing, encouragement, and clear direction repetition. For testing, he was given extended time, one-on-one settings, and help understanding instructions.
These adjustments made all the difference.
Throughout high school, Deuce maintained a grade-point average of over 4.0 while taking honors, AP, and dual enrollment courses. Additionally, he was inducted into the National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society while also playing varsity baseball. Because of his success at Bishop, he will continue his educational journey at Savannah State University, where he will major in accounting and continue to play baseball.
Deuce Jacobs earned an academic scholarship to Savannah State University, where he plans to major in accounting and continue playing baseball.
Catholic schools in Florida increasingly are accommodating students with special needs. The state’s education choice scholarship programs have been instrumental in making Catholic education available to more families. Over the past decade, during a time when Catholic school enrollment has declined across much of the nation and diocesan schools have been forced to close, no state has seen more growth than Florida.
At the same time, the number of students attending a Catholic school on a special-needs scholarship has nearly quadrupled, from 3,004 in 2014-15 to 11,326 in 2024-25. Clearly, many families are choosing the advantages of a private school education without an IEP versus a public school with an IEP.
So, I’m puzzled why federal legislation being considered in Congress, the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), includes a mandate that that all private schools provide accommodations to students with special education needs, including those with IEPs.
Although more and more students with special needs are accessing private schools, not every school can accommodate every student’s unique needs (which is also true of public schools). And, as I learned with Deuce, some schools can accommodate students more effectively if they aren’t bound by rigid legal mandates and have the flexibility to collaborate with parents who choose to entrust them with their children’s education.
If the IEP mandate passes, it would prohibit many schools from accepting funds through a new 50-state scholarship program, undermining the worthy goal of extending educational choice options to more families. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called it a “poison pill” that would “debilitate Catholic school participation.”
Bishop McLaughlin’s willingness to partner with me as a parent not only allowed Deuce to succeed academically but also gave him the dignity and respect every child deserves. IEPs work for many. For others, like Deuce, it takes something more like collaboration to build a path forward together.
The story: With less than a week to go before the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments about the constitutionality of religious charter schools, supporters and opponents are making wildly different predictions about the possible effects.
Supporters, who include advocates for religious education, are framing a win for their side as a victory for religious freedom and a logical extension of recent rulings that affirmed faith-based schools’ right to participate in publicly funded programs.
“This is a way of getting new choice options in the context of performance accountability,” said Andy Smarick, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, during a recent debate about religious charter schools sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute. “A small number of religious organizations might apply to run charter schools, and I think that’s wonderful and not going to change the world.”
The Manhattan Institute is among the organizations weighing in on the side of religious charter schools.
Opponents, which include the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, are sounding the alarm over what they say could cripple a movement that began more than 30 years ago to launch innovative new public schools.
The other side: The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools warned that a ruling allowing religious charter schools could carry “catastrophic consequences” for the nation’s existing charter schools.
For religious charter schools to exist, they argue, the high court would have to redefine charter schools as private. That would overturn laws in 46 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, that define charters as public and thus threaten their ability to be funded under the same per-pupil formulas as school districts.
Yes, and: Charter supporters also point out the potential for ripple effects, such as charter schools losing facilities funding, questions about teacher participation in state benefit programs, or more drastically, calls to halt the approval of new schools or even funding of existing ones.
“This could lead to the destruction of chartering or limiting of chartering,” said Kathleen Porter-MaGee, a managing partner at Leadership Roundtable, an organization that brings together laity and clergy to support the Catholic church.
Instead of extending charters to religious groups, she encouraged a doubling down on private K-12 scholarship programs, which are now established in 29 states, with Texas poised to become the 30th.
Expanding scholarship programs for private education would let faith-based schools maintain instructional and employment practices that align with their beliefs, free from government interference, while allowing them to serve families who would not have access without private funding.
Catch up: The legal and political battle rocketed to the Supreme Court shortly after two Catholic dioceses won approval from Oklahoma’s statewide virtual charter review board in 2023 to open St. Isidore of Seville Catholic School, an online charter school that would include the same Catholic teachings as the church’s in-person schools.
The fight pitted Republicans against one another, with the current Oklahoma attorney general taking a position opposite his GOP predecessor and filing a lawsuit. It also divided the charter school movement, with national groups forcefully opposing a legal argument that could redefine their status as public entities and some charter schools arguing they would welcome the change.
While Oklahoma has a refundable tax credit that pays up to $7,500 per child for private school tuition, the program was not available until January 2024, about six months after St. Isidore applied for charter school authorization.
Possible upsides of a win for St. Isidore:
“Catholic schools have been doing things on the cheap for far too long,” Smarick said. “This is the opportunity to say you can remain private for as long as you want…but if you think you can do more for your mission in the charter school context, you can.”
Possible downsides:
Charter groups preparing: In case the court rules in favor of St. Isidore, advocates of established charters are working on model legislation that would allow states to maintain funding. A finding that says charter schools are not state actors also raises many questions, such as whether the ministerial exception, a legal doctrine that shields religious organizations from non-discrimination laws in the hiring of staff with ministerial duties, would apply to faith-based schools.
“No one knows what the court is going to say,” Smarick said. “State legislatures need to step up fast and answer these questions.”
Tune in: The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in the case for 10 a.m. April 30. Audio will be livestreamed.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Zori Brown was in the sixth grade when she made a plan for her future that was concise and to the point:
“I don’t know of any sixth-graders who have a life plan,” said Zori’s mom, Endea Mathis.
Endea said she was raised in a home where education was stressed above all else, and she passed that on to her only child.
“It was taught to her at a young age that you're a student first. We pride ourselves on that,” Endea said. “But she took it to a whole other level.”
Six years later, the plan is still in play.
Zori, 17, is set to graduate in May near the top of her class from St. Thomas Aquinas High School (STA) in Fort Lauderdale. She will continue her education at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she received a volleyball scholarship. She will major in finance.
The end goal hasn’t changed – become a CFO, possibly on Wall Street.
“She’ll be something someday, that’s for sure,” Lisa Zielinski, STA’s volleyball coach, said.
Endea and Zori, after Zori received the Super Senior Award at the Rising Stars Awards event in February.
Ambitious goals like these and the means to reach them are what attracted Zori to STA. She attends the academically and athletically competitive private Catholic high school with the help of a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO). The scholarship is managed by Step Up For Students.
“If it wasn’t for Step Up, she wouldn’t be able to attend St. Thomas, her dream school, because I couldn’t afford it,” Endea said. “The scholarship has been tremendous for us.”
As a senior, Zori was team MVP, all-Broward County first team, and a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team. (Photo provided by Zori Brown)
Zori attended a charter school near her home in Pembroke Pines, which is a half hour south of STA. She enjoyed her time there and felt she was pushed academically. But for high school, she wanted something more.
Athletically, Zori joined one of the top volleyball programs in Florida. She finished her high school career as a captain of a team that won back-to-back state titles. As a senior, Zori was team MVP and first-team all-Broward County. She was also named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team.
In volleyball, college coaches recruit players from the AAU national circuit. Zori gained attention playing for the Wildfire Volleyball Academy’s national team, playing weekend tournaments in Atlanta, Kansas City, and Indianapolis, as well as Orlando and South Florida. Dartmouth coaches first approached her when she was in the ninth grade.
“Volleyball has impacted my life a lot,” Zori said. “It’s brought so much joy into my life, and I’m going to a great college through volleyball. I'm so grateful for it.”
Her academic life is equally important. She pushes herself just as hard in the classroom as she does on the volleyball court.
Athletically, Zori joined one of the top volleyball programs in Florida. She finished her high school career as a captain of a team that won back-to-back state titles. As a senior, Zori was team MVP and first-team all-Broward County. She was also named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team.
In volleyball, college coaches recruit players from the AAU national circuit. Zori gained attention playing for the Wildfire Volleyball Academy’s national team, playing weekend tournaments in Atlanta, Kansas City, and Indianapolis, as well as Orlando and South Florida. Dartmouth coaches first approached her when she was in the ninth grade.
“Volleyball has impacted my life a lot,” Zori said. “It’s brought so much joy into my life, and I’m going to a great college through volleyball. I'm so grateful for it.”
Her academic life is equally important. She pushes herself just as hard in the classroom as she does on the volleyball court.
“I have to get a high mark, I just challenge myself,” she said. “There may be a class I don't really know much about, but in X amount of months, I'm going to walk out of here, and I'm going to know as much as I can.
I think what keeps me going is thinking about the future and how I want to be successful in life, and I feel by challenging myself academically, that's going to help me get there.”
Zori's play on the court, where she is an outside hitter, drew the attention of the coaches at the Ivy League universities Yale, Brown, and Princeton. She was also recruited by Georgetown University, Stony Brook University and Davidson College.
As a senior, Zori was team MVP, all-Broward County first team, and a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team. (Photo provided by Zori Brown)
As a senior, Zori was team MVP, all-Broward County first team, and a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team. (Photo provided by Zori Brown
In addition to her athletic prowess, Zori brings leadership and a high moral character to the team, which, Coach Zielinski said, enables her to be successful.
“Once in a while, you get a player who has it all,” Zielinski said. “I know the Dartmouth coaches are going to be happy to have her, because she’s going to contribute to that school and that program. She’ll make a difference. She’ll thrive in that academic setting.”
Endea, who is slowly changing her wardrobe from STA’s blue and gold to Dartmouth’s green, is not surprised her daughter is headed to an Ivy League school, though she was quick to add, “I brag all the time.”
“She’s always been confident, always been competitive,” Endea said. “She always wanted to do well, always wanted to be first in everything. That’s from her upbringing. I always pushed her to be the best she could be. She always wanted more out of life.”
Zori doesn’t feel she would be heading to an Ivy League college without the education she received at STA. The faculty helped her lift her academics to a higher level. That, combined with her competitive nature and her laser-like focus on her future, means she will trade sunny South Florida for some New England winters.
“I know this is really cliché, but you only live once,” Zori said. “I think about that all the time. You have to work hard in this life because you don’t get another one. You have to take advantage of the opportunities you have. The decisions you make now affect your future.”
NAPLES, Fla. – Owen Phypers’ commute from his new home to his new high school took about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, his parents were driving 90 minutes one way to their old jobs near their old home so their son could have the opportunity to attend a private high school with high academic standards and a top-flight baseball program. Their sacrifice did not go unnoticed.
“It made me realize I can't mess around,” Owen said. “I have to make this worth it.”
Not that Owen messed around at his district school in his hometown of Lake Placid. He was a top student, a member of the National Honor Society, and captain of the baseball team. Yet, he felt he wasn’t reaching his potential in the classroom and on the diamond.
Neither did his parents, Brittany and Drew.
So, last year, the Phypers moved to Bonita Springs, and with the help of a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO), administered by Step Up For Students, Owen enrolled at St. John Neumann Catholic School in Naples as a junior.
Was it worth it?
Well, as graduation nears, Owen is ranked fourth in the senior class. He is captain of his house (one of four that form Neumann’s student government) and captain of the baseball team. In June, he begins Plebe Summer at the United States Naval Academy, where he will major in engineering and continue his baseball career.
“This school has brought me to where I am now,” Owen said. “I honestly think so.”
Neumann’s baseball program was a big attraction for Owen. Its state-of-the-art facilities, respected coaching staff, and on-field success against some of the top programs in the state draw the attention of Division I-A coaches and Major League Baseball scouts. The Celtics fit what Owen was looking for as a means towards earning a Division I-A scholarship.
A right-handed pitcher, Owen noticed an improvement in every aspect of his game within a month of joining the program.
“I got better at everything,” he said.
His motivation to continue improving increased when a teammate committed to Division I-A power Florida State shortly after Owen enrolled.
“I saw that and said, ‘I want to be that guy,’” he said.
But, as his mom, Brittany said, “Owen loves baseball. But he’s not all baseball.”
Owen grew up on the family farm in Lake Placid, amid cattle pastures, citrus orchards, and caladiums. Lots of caladiums. Lake Placid bills itself as the caladium capital of the world.
But after 52 years, the farm was dissolving, and Drew needed a new line of work. He helped shut down the farm last year before landing a job as a project manager for a construction company in Collier County. Brittany, a teacher, finished the year at the district high school in Lake Placid before taking a teaching position at Neumann this school year.
Hence, the long commutes.
“Owen knew it was a sacrifice for us, both time-consuming and financially, but we were ready to make that sacrifice for him,” Brittany said.
The FES-EO scholarship, managed by Step Up For Students, helped ease some of the financial burden.
“Without a scholarship, we wouldn't have been able to afford to come here,” Brittany said. “It's just been life-changing for us. For everyone to be able to apply for it and have that opportunity is wonderful. It gives you an opportunity, and then it's up to you.”
It wasn’t long after Owen enrolled at Neumann when Brittany knew he would make the best of his opportunity.
“Coming here has just opened his eyes to the fact that there are students that are like him,” Brittany said. “They want to do well in class and have the same moral code and Christian values.
Owen found the academics at his new school just as challenging as the athletics and that inspired him.
“There’s a lot more homework, and classes are a lot harder, and that pushed me,” Owen said. “It really caused me to grow.
“It’s an environment where all the kids want to be here. People want to become better. People grow in their faith, in every aspect of life.”
Neumann is designed to prepare high school students for college.
“It's not if you go to college, it's where you're going to college,” said Neumann Principal Sister Patricia Roche. “That's the attitude of everyone. This is not the end but the beginning.”
Owen knew he would attend college. The question was, where?
Two years ago, he wasn’t sure if he would garner the attention or develop the skills necessary to play NCAA Division I baseball. Whatever future he had in the game, he certainly didn’t think it would be at the Naval Academy. But the Navy coaches showed an interest in him, and once Owen gave it serious thought, it began to make sense.
He enjoys math, so a career in engineering was always attractive. He considers himself a leader, and the Naval Academy is filled with leaders.
“The main focus of Neumann is getting involved, helping others, which in turn, helps yourself,” Owen said. “I like to lead others, I feel confident leading others, and I saw at the Naval Academy the opportunity to grow as a leader and to support my country in any way.”
Also, Owen added, “I have a couple buddies who are playing baseball in college, and they play baseball, and that's kind of the only reason they’re there.”
He decided he wasn’t going to be just a baseball player. If he was going to major in engineering, he was going to do it at one of the top engineering colleges in the country.
“For my husband and I, this seems like the natural fit for him,” Brittany said. “He wanted to go somewhere where he was going to play and not sit on the bench, but he also felt like he had worked so hard his whole academic career to make really good grades and test scores, so he wanted to go somewhere that was going to be challenging as well. The value of that education has to be a payoff.”
The Celtic Ball, Neumann’s annual fundraiser, was held in January. Owen was one of the seniors picked to speak in front of the school’s alumni and donors.
“He represents the school well,” Sister Patricia said. “He's very articulate, and he's a role model among his peers. He's a leader, which is good. It's nice to have athletes who are on the right track.”
Owen spoke about his journey to Neumann and how it led to his journey to the Naval Academy.
And, with a nod toward the tradition that awaits him, he closed the speech with this:
“Go Navy!
Beat Army!”
Editor's Note: This story originally ran on Florida Politics.
The dream, the goal, the answer to many prayers is a three-story building that houses seven classrooms, a chemistry lab, a library – and since school resumed after the Christmas break, 54 students in grades nine through 11.
Welcome to Basilica High School, which sits on the campus of The Basilica School of Saint Mary Star of the Sea, Key West’s lone Catholic school and the only Catholic high school in Monroe County.
The school, which for decades served only PK3-8 students, will be PK3-12 when the first senior class is added during the 2025-26 school year.
“It’s been three years of fear, hope, prayers, and a lot of hard work to get here, and it's amazing now to have the students in the classrooms in the building. It feels like we have a home,” said Angela Wallace, the school’s Advancement Director.
Florida’s education choice scholarship programs were instrumental in making it possible, an achievement worth celebrating during National School Choice Week and Catholic Schools Week, which run concurrently Jan. 26 to Feb. 1.
Key West had a Catholic secondary school for 100 years until Mary Immaculate High School closed in 1986 because of declining enrollment. That meant the nearest Catholic high schools were in Dade County, with the closest being Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School, a mere 145 miles from Key West.
That left few options for parents whose children graduated The Basilica School of Saint Mary Star of the Sea after the eighth grade: send them to Key West High School or one of Key West’s two charter schools or move closer to a Catholic school.
The hope of another Catholic high school always lived among school administrators and parents, and beginning last decade, several factors combined to turn that hope into reality.
First, Catholic school enrollment in Florida continued its steady incline with a 4.4% growth of preK-12 students between 2013-2023. After a COVID-related drop to 77,689 students in 2021, enrollment rebounded to 89,267 students in 2023. Enrollment has continued to rise, from 90,870 in the 2023-24 school year to 93,455 this academic year – a healthy 2.8% year-over-year increase.
Enrollment doubled at The Basilica School of Saint Mary Star of the Sea between 2013 and 2019.
Second, HB1 became law in 2023, which expanded the state’s education choice scholarship programs, making them available to all K-12 students in Florida.
“(HB1 has) been an incredible blessing,” Wallace said. “So much of our operational and economic vitality is because of the scholarship program.”
There are 524 students enrolled at The Basilica School of Saint Mary Star of the Sea during this school year, 450 attending with the help of a scholarship managed by Step Up For Students: the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, which average $8,000 per student, or the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, which averages $10,000 per student.
The programs have been a boon to families seeking more options in their children’s education, with participation this year passing the 500,000 students milestone for the first time. They also have helped Catholic schools in Florida grow, bucking the national trend of declining enrollments. Last year, 56,192 students used scholarships to attend Catholic schools. This year, that number has jumped to 72,851.
Three years ago, The Basilica School of Saint Mary Star of the Sea conducted a feasibility study to see if adding a high school would work. The results led to a pilot program during the 2021-22 school year when 13 students enrolled in the ninth grade.
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski blessed the new high school building during a dedication mass in December. (Photo courtesy of Studio Julie Photography)
“Those students took an enormous risk,” Wallace said. “We basically said we have been approved to offer high school classes for this year, and possibly this year only if we can’t get all the numbers to work. You may be transferring elsewhere for your sophomore year.
“They took the leap, and we have been able to continue.”
A 10th grade was added the following year, which increased the high school’s enrollment to 33. That increased to 54 this year with the three grades. The hope is to have 80 students enrolled in the four grades during the 2025-26 school year.
Until January, those students were “nomads,” according to The Basilica School of Saint Mary Star of the Sea President Robert Wright, as they used classrooms on the elementary school campus. Now they have a home, and Wright said the excitement permeates the entire campus.
“It is one of the greatest blessings in my life to witness the seeds of faith and virtue that have been planted and nurtured in our students during the elementary and middle school years come to fruition as they transition to adulthood,” he said.
The new school building had been an auditorium that was used as a gymnastics studio. It is called The Howley Family Building after Nick and Lorie Howley, who helped fund its transformation.
English teacher Anna Coppa reacts after entering her classroom in the new high school building for the first time. (Photo courtesy of Studio Julie Photography)
Riella Sims, whose daughter Kallisto is one of the original 13 ninth-graders, was among the parents lobbying for a high school as their children ascended elementary and middle school.
“I felt it was in Kallisto’s best interest for her to continue on in the Basilica High School, as I believe The Basilica provides a more well-rounded education for the well-being of all the children attending,” she said. “They become more responsive to their community’s needs and others around them.”
Kallisto said she is “proud” to be a member of the first graduating class. She said their legacy will be built on “faith, understanding, a sense of adventure, and the courage to take on challenges,” all the qualities needed to enroll in a high school that might not exist after one year.
“We all feel an immense sense of pride not just in ourselves, but also in our extraordinary teachers, who have worked tirelessly to provide us with an excellent education, from late nights to helping us around the clock with any questions we have,” she said. “This moment is as much a celebration of their dedication as it is of our achievements.”
Hadley Bardoni, a 10th-grader, enrolled at Basilica High School in the ninth grade after visiting all four secondary school options for Key West students.
“Basilica just clicked with us and our daughter, and it's been the best choice that we could have made for her,” said Jennifer Bardoni, Hadley’s mom.
Though not Catholic, Jennifer and her husband Damian wanted a faith-based education for Hadley and her sister Ansley, who is in the eighth grade. It’s a small school with a favorable teacher-to-student ratio and a curriculum based on moral values.
“The students are treated as young adults,” Jennifer said. “It’s a very welcoming, loving community that nurtures education and gives our kids the right values.”
That was the motivation for the push to add a high school. The values taught in grades one through eight will continue through grade 12.
“It’s such a crucial time in their development, that transition from adolescence to being young adults,” Wallace said. “They're able to continue that in an environment where they feel very safe. They know the teachers and they're with the friends and families that they've grown up with.”
Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica on Dec. 24 to mark the beginning of the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. He has called Catholics to be “pilgrims of hope” and pursue special acts of penance and mercy.
If hope will be a special theme for Catholics across the globe, it’s fitting that our schools can serve as beacons of hope for an American education system mired in sinking outcomes and rising inequality.
In a round of testing that brought bad news for most students across the country, Catholic school students scored one to two grade levels higher than their public school peers. While the comparison from public and Catholic cannot be broken down at the state level, the national data shows Catholic school students outperforming their peers.
The National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) reports that if Catholic schools were a state, they would rank first in NAEP scale scores for grades four and eight in math and reading.
Chart by Marc Porter Magee
Just as Pope Francis opened a door to symbolize hope, Catholic schools in Florida and Iowa are opening their doors to more students. According to enrollment data recently released by the Florida Catholic, our state’s Catholic schools grew by 2.8% this year. The number of students using a state scholarship to attend also increased. A NextSteps special report showed Florida Catholic schools not only survived but thrived between 2013 and 2023, posting 4.4% in enrollment during that span.
Scholarships open the door for families that may not have been able to afford Catholic school tuition. In Iowa Catholic schools, growth is accelerating. They report a 4% enrollment increase, now serving 25,264 students. National Catholic school enrollment numbers will be released in the coming months by the NCEA.
Pope Francis said, "Hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come."
Opportunity brings hope to those who need it most. Students using a scholarship for unique abilities in Florida’s Catholic schools increased by 36% year-over-year. Catholic schools are finding new ways to serve unique populations while maintaining a steadfast commitment to academic excellence.
The recent NAEP scores and enrollment data from states with strong commitments to empowering parents to select the best schools for their children give hope for many.
CLEARWATER, Fla. – The orphans in a tiny town in Tanzania left the biggest impression on Sarah Williams.
They were so cute and kind and happy.
And curious.
The children were fascinated with Sarah’s long hair. It’s something rarely seen in that part of the world, where water is so scarce the locals shave their heads so as not to waste the precious resource on something as ordinary as washing their hair.
Sarah let the kids run their fingers through her locks. She showed them how to make a ponytail and how to braid it.
“They were so happy,” Sarah said. “They don’t have much, but they have each other. All they wanted was to hold our hands and play with us.”
The orphans that Sarah Williams met in Tanzania were curious about her long hair.
Sarah, five of her classmates from Clearwater Central Catholic High School (CCC) and two chaperones from the school spent 10 days last June in Tanzania as representatives of Water 4 Mercy, a nonprofit that provides water and food and hope to remote villages in Africa.
Water 4 Mercy was started in 2018 by Nermine Khouzam Rubin, whose daughter, Samantha, is a graduate of CCC.
Sarah is a junior who attends the private Catholic school on a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO). The scholarship is managed by Step Up For Students.
She is a member of CCC’s Water 4 Mercy service chapter, the largest service chapter in the school. It began in 2021 and has raised $36,000 through fundraisers. This was the first time CCC students traveled to Africa.
“It’s life-changing,” said Beth Lani, CCC’s director of advancement and moderator of the school’s Water 4 Mercy chapter.
The 16-page itinerary that Sarah and her classmates received said it would be a “fun and meaningful journey” and a “life changing adventure.”
It was for Sarah and for Corey Vohra, a senior who also made the trip.
They visited schools, an orphanage and convent, and several rural villages. They also attended Mass in Swahili and went on a safari.
“I went there with an open mind,” Corey said. “I wanted to see where the journey would take us.”
They met villagers barely scraping by without one of life’s biggest necessities – clean water – yet were also some of the happiest people they’ve ever met.
They saw smiling faces everywhere they went. Children lined up and waved when the traveling party drove by.
“It showed me a different perspective on my life,” Corey said. “I feel like coming out of that trip, I'm very grateful for everything I have and all the privileges I have in life.”
When Sarah returned home, she researched the type of social work needed in countries like Tanzania.
“It impacted me so much I want to do something about it,” she said. “I’m looking at majors for college, and I’d like to major in social work so I can go back and work with the orphanage.”
Sarah plans to attend the University of Tampa, where she can continue to play volleyball and major in social work.
“Before this trip I wanted to major in interior design,” she said, “so this is something totally different. I love being around children. I babysit for a ton of different families. I always had a connection with children, so I think this is something that I want to stick with.”
Corey, who also attends CCC on an FES-EO scholarship, plans to attend college in south Florida and major in international affairs.
“This trip helped me figure out what I want to do,” he said. “Maybe I can be part of the United Nations and do something to help make a difference there.”
The trip included visits to places like Mabalangu Village, a community of 2,200 that recently gained access to clean water for the first time thanks in part to the efforts of CCC’s Water 4 Mercy service chapter.
And to villages that are in the process of gaining access to clean water. It was those visits that left a lasting impact. The students watched villagers gather water from muddy water holes also used by animals. You can imagine what is mixed in with the mud.
“It was crazy,” Corey said. “And then you come home, and you can take like 10 steps and get water from your fridge.”
The villages consist mostly of women and children, because the men travel to other parts of the country for work. Those women and children carry the water back to their homes in containers they balance on their heads.
“I saw a big difference between the village with no water and the village with water,” Sarah said. “Everybody was happier. They looked cleaner.”
Lani was one of the chaperones. This was her second trip to Tanzania with Water 4 Mercy. Seeing the impact the school is making in Tanzania was “very inspiring,” she said.
She graduated from Cleveland State University with a degree in anthropology and said she would have jumped at the chance to go on a trip like this at that time had one been available.
“I know these kids, they're bright kids, and I figured maybe it wouldn’t pivot their career choice, but maybe give them a different perspective, and it might color what they do in the future,” she said. “But to hear them say it actually is guiding their career choice, at least at this point in their lives, is wonderful. I’m thankful that I could share that opportunity with them.”
Jackson Pelletier’s enrollment at St. Paul’s Catholic School Riverside on an education choice scholarship began with a trip to the pediatrician.
That’s when his parents, Natasha and Greg, noticed the private school in Jacksonville across the street from the doctor’s office.
The family had just moved to the area from San Diego after Greg, a gunnery sergeant in the Marines, had been assigned to the Blount Island Command, a Marine Corps support facility in Jacksonville, Florida.
Jackson attended his district school, and that was fine, Greg said. However, Greg attended a Catholic elementary school and always wanted that faith-based education for Jackson and his younger brother, Cameron.
“I feel like it definitely helped me in my formative years, and I wanted that foundation for my kids, as well,” he said.
But he and Natasha felt Greg’s military salary could not support the cost of private school.
Still, Greg took a tour of St. Paul’s, and was surprised when Stasia Holzbaur, St. Paul’s office manager, admissions director and military liaison, told him about the scholarships managed by Step Up For Students.
“I think that’s great,” Greg said. “It definitely lifts a burden and allows us to put our kids in a good school that we probably wouldn't be able to afford otherwise.”
In 2021, Florida lawmakers made the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options and Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities accessible to military families.
Jackson, now in the fifth grade, receives the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. Cameron is in pre-K and not yet eligible for a scholarship.
“The scholarships have been a game-changer for military families,” Holzbaur said. “Especially for those families with multiple children who want to put them in a Catholic school.”
The Pelletiers have been married since 2012. During that time, Greg has been stationed in New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, California and now Jacksonville.
“We absolutely love it,” Natasha said. “Greg has a great career, and he’s supported our family throughout the years. We love going to new places. When it was just me and Greg, it was fine. But now our kids are involved, and it's a little tougher for them. We’re able to adjust fast, but it is an adjustment for our kids.”
The family arrived from San Diego in the summer of 2023. Jackson was enrolled in a new school, making the adjustments all children make when they switch schools. He would make another once his parents learned of the state education choice scholarships.
“Jackson loves St. Paul’s,” said Natasha, who works at the school as a pre-K4 assistant. “He has a ton of friends. He likes the small class sizes. He can focus more and get a little more help from his teachers.”
Jackson and Cameron are going to have to make that adjustment again when Greg’s assignment in Jacksonville ends this summer. The next move could be back to San Diego or to Okinawa, Japan.
“We don't have a choice, but we make wherever we go home,” Natasha said.
With children from 23 military families enrolled at St. Paul’s, Jackson has classmates who live the same itinerant life as he and Cameron. Some of those military families have a parent who is deployed. In one family, both parents are deployed.
Greg, who has been a Marine for 15 years, spent two months in Virginia earlier this year. He recently spent a week in Okinawa.
“No one knows how hard it is on a military kid,” Natasha said. “They go to school; they make friends; they have a group of friends, and then in three years, they leave and do it all over again. It’s nice that at St. Paul’s, he has a little community that knows exactly what he’s going through.”
As a state-designated Purple Star school that supports the unique needs of military families, St. Paul’s is required to:
“They understand the sacrifices military families make, and they are understanding,” Greg said.
Holzbaur has gathered photos of the school’s military parents. They will be displayed on a wall of heroes on Veterans Day. The families are invited to attend a reception after the mass that day.
It’s part of her job to lead the tour when a miliary family visits the school. She said she’s surprised at how many parents don’t believe her when she tells them about the scholarships. Because most are from out of state, they are not familiar with Florida’s parent-directed education policies.
“It’s so nice to see the look on their faces the first time they hear about it, and they realize they can afford to send their kids here,” Holzbaur said.
You can count Greg and Natasha among that group.
“It was a relief knowing our boys were going to go to a good school and get a good education,” she said. “With the scholarship, it’s amazing.”
The Ivins children, (from left) Lucas, Nicholas, Rebekah and Joseph, are flourishing academically.
MIRAMAR, Fla. – William Ivins moved his family to South Florida ahead of his retirement from the United States Marine Corps and enrolled his children at Mother of Our Redeemer Catholic School, hoping they would reap the same rewards as he did from a faith-based education.
But, as William and his wife, Claudia, would soon learn, that was easier said than done.
A lawyer for much of his 20-year career in the Marines, William needed to pass the Florida Bar Exam before he could enter the private sector. It was a long process that left him unemployed for 19 months.
“It was a struggle,” he said. “My retirement income was not enough to pay for the cost of living and tuition for my children.”
William and his wife Claudia faced a few choices: continue with the financial struggle, homeschool their children, send them to their district school, or move out of state. None were appealing to the Ivins, and fortunately, they didn’t have to act on any.
The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship made possible by corporate donations to Step Up For Students allows his four children to attend Mother of Our Redeemer, a private K-8 Catholic school near the family’s Miramar home.
“It was a perfect storm of having to retire from the Marines and not really having a job lined up,” William said. “The transition was more difficult than I thought it would be. The income just was not available for us to continue our kids’ education in the way we wanted. Had the scholarship not been there, we would have been forced to move out of state or homeschool them or move them to (their district) school.”
In July 2020, the Ivins moved to South Florida from Jacksonville, N.C., where William had been stationed at Camp Lejeune. William contacted Denise Torres, the registrar and ESE coordinator at Mother of Redeemer, before making the move. She told William the school would hold spaces for his children. She later told him about the education choice scholarships managed by Step Up For Students.
“That was a big relief for him,” Torres said.
At his mother’s urging, William began attending Catholic school in high school.
“That was a life-changer for me,” he said.
He converted to Catholicism and vowed if he ever had children, he would send them to Catholic school for the religious and academic benefits.
Rebekah graduated in May from Mother of Our Redeemer. She had been an honor roll student since she stepped on campus three years ago.
“Rebekah likes to be challenged in school, and she was challenged here,” Claudia said.
Rebekah, who received the High Achieving Student Award in April 2022 at Step Up’s annual Rising Stars Awards event, is in the excelsior honors program as a freshman at Archbishop McCarthy High School.
“She's an amazing, amazing student,” Torres said. “It’s incredible the way she takes care of her brothers. She's very nurturing. Every single teacher has something positive to say about her.”
Rebekah’s brothers, Joseph (sixth grade) and Lucas (third grade), do well academically and are active in Mother of Redeemer’s sports scene, running cross-country and track. Nicholas, the youngest of the Ivins children, is in first grade. He was allowed to run with the cross-country team while in kindergarten, which helped build his confidence.
William had been in the Marines for 20 years, eight months. He served as a judge advocate and was deployed to Kuwait in 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom, to Japan in 2004, and then to Afghanistan in 2012 for Operation Enduring Freedom.
He retired in May 2021 but didn’t find employment until December 2022. The Florida Bar Exam is considered one of the more challenging bar exams in the United States. He took the exam in July 2021 and didn’t learn he passed until September. It took William more than a year before he landed a position with a small law firm in Pembrook Pines.
Claudia, who has a background in finance, works in that department at Mother of Our Redeemer Catholic Church, located next to the school.
“They have really become part of our community,” principal Ana Casariego said. “The parents are very involved and are big supporters of our school and church.”
In Mother of Our Redeemer Catholic School and Church, Willian and Claudia found the educational and faith setting they wanted for their children.
“It is a small community environment where you know all the teachers and staff by first name,” William said. “My kids have received a wonderful education in an environment where they don’t have to worry about bullying, and they can really strive to grow and do their best academically.
“The scholarship kept us in the state and kept our kids in the school system that we wanted them to be in. It’s been a great blessing to us.”
