The category is “Lifelong dreams.”

These are the clues.

Many find this experience fun, exciting, and a little scary.

What is being on “Jeopardy!”?

The answer is correct if you’re Michael Kavanagh, principal at Holy Family Catholic School, a K-8 parochial school in Jacksonville.

For as long as Michael can remember, he wanted to appear on “Jeopardy!,” the game show where the answers are given, and the contestants guess the questions. A dream that became a goal when Michael reached high school became a reality when he appeared on the show that aired on Nov. 24.

Michael placed second among the three contestants. He was a perfect 12-for-12 in his answers, including “Final Jeopardy!,” when he was the only one to successfully answer the question. He earned $12,600.

“To be able to say that I accomplished something that I've wanted to do since I was a kid, to be able to actually pull it off and get on the show, that was really just a dream for me,” Michael said.

All but a handful of Holy Family’s students attend the school with the help of a Florida education choice scholarship managed by Step Up For Students. Many watched their principal live out his dream, which made Michael the big man on campus when school resumed after the Thanksgiving break.

And maybe a role model.

“Step Up exists to give children opportunities, to give children a chance to go to a great school and get a great education,” Michael said.

And with that education, well, they too can someday be on “Jeopardy!,” if that’s a goal they want to chase.

“That's what I hope our students see the value in,” Michael said. “I didn't use my athletic abilities. I didn't use my strength or anything like that. I was fortunate enough to go to great schools and learn from great teachers, and I used that knowledge to pursue something that I really loved.

“I think it just shows you that when you have an opportunity, and when you have a dream, and you want to follow it, all these things are possible. So, I do hope that maybe being a role model for someone as a ‘Jeopardy!’ contestant, that's maybe a little bit of a nerdy thing to do, but I do hope it shows the kids that there's value in learning and there’s value in pursuing your dreams.

“It's good to be smart.”

To be selected for “Jeopardy!,” Michael had to pass an online test, then an interview. He had taken the test several times, but this was the first time he was interviewed. In September, he received the call. He would be on the show that was taped Oct. 21.

What is ecstatic?

Michael was told by the show’s producers that 70,000 people take the test each year, but only 450 make it to the show.

“Just being there, you’re in pretty elite territory,” he said.

Michael and his wife, Allison, flew to Los Angeles for a three-day trip. They had to keep the results to themselves until after the show aired.

While Michael didn’t win -- Harrison Whittaker from Terre Haute, Indiana, extended his winning streak to 10 games that day – he was the only one who answered every question correctly.

Other than reviewing the names of Shakespeare characters, U.S. vice presidents, and capitals of foreign countries, Michael said he didn’t study for his big moment. It’s nearly impossible when the show’s producers can pick from a nearly endless list of categories, or, as they did that day, create one where the contestants were given two words and had to change the last letters to form another word.

Michael entered with the random facts accrued over a lifetime of being curious.

“It was just stuff that I've picked up over 40 years of listening, and reading, and studying,” he said. “I'm very blessed with a mind that is always curious and remembers facts that I find interesting. For me, I think everything is interesting.”

It was a combination of facts that led him to the correct answer to “Final Jeopardy!,” the last question of the show and the one that often determines the winner.

The clues:

He wasn't yet a U.S. citizen when he was named an All-American and won two Olympic gold medals for the country.

Michael had 30 seconds to answer.

“I didn’t actually know the answer,” Michael said.

But he knew Jim Thorpe was a Native American, and he knew Thorpe was an Olympic champion, and knowing what he does about American history, he figured Native Americans were probably not considered American citizens at that time.

Who is Jim Thorpe?

“I was able to piece together all of those little bits of information to come up with a really confident guess as to what the answer was,” Michael said. “So, it was a lot of problem-solving, too. A lot of ‘Jeopardy!’ is not, ‘Do you know facts?’ It's, ‘Do you know this fact, and can you use it to lead you to something else?’ ”

“Jeopardy!” tapes a week's worth of shows on Mondays. Michael’s show was the first one that was taped. Afterward, he sat in the audience with Allison and watched two more shows.

Each show is 30 minutes, but because of commercials, contestants are on air for only 22 minutes. Add a few practice questions before taping began, the excitement of being on the iconic “Jeopardy!” set, and the mental energy needed to come up with answers in a split second, and Michael was a little worn out when it was over.

“It’s a competition,” he said. “It's not athletic, but you definitely feel like your body has gone through something. Your brain was spinning, and your heart was racing, and then it's over, and you take a deep breath, and you realize that's it. I'm done. And that was incredible.

“Honestly, it's more like riding a roller coaster, and you get off, and you think, ‘Well, that was fun and exciting and a little scary.’”

HAVANA, Fla. – It was a typical July afternoon in Florida’s Panhandle. The air was hot and sticky, and the sun hid behind the dark gray thunder clouds building to the north of Robert F. Munroe Day School in Havana.

A warm breeze kicked up, signaling the approaching late-day storm.

The students who darted about earlier during summer camp, and the staff and teachers who spent their day on campus preparing for the upcoming school year, were mostly gone.

Andy Gay, head of school, remained. So did Shanna Halsell, director of advancement and marketing. They spent the better part of the day with a visitor, explaining the efforts necessary to keep Robert F. Munroe Day School (RFM) open, despite financial shortcomings, an exodus of teachers, and declining enrollment that not too long ago threatened to close the private pre-K-12 school.

But that gloomy forecast never happened.

In Gay’s first three years on the job, enrollment has increased, and test scores are on the rise.

Several factors came into play for the turnaround, including the expansion of Florida’s education choice scholarship programs managed by Step Up For Students.

“The Step Up scholarship saved this school,” Gay said. “This school has always been on the verge of shutting down, and we’d have closed without it.”

But RFM’s story is more than just the creation in 2022 of the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, which increased the income requirements for eligible families, making a private school education more affordable to families.

Parents need more than money to send their children to a private school. They need a reason to send them there.

And that’s where Gay comes in. He is a graduate of RFM. So is his wife, and so are his two sons and his daughter.

“We’re a Munroe family,” Gay said. “I love this place. It has a soft spot in my heart.”

That’s the reason RFM’s board of trustees sent an SOS to Gay before the start of the 2022-23 school year.

“We needed him,” Libby Henderson, the immediate past president of the school’s board of trustees, said.

A native of Gadsden County, Gay has deep roots in the community. And, as a former teacher, coach, and administrator in the county school district, Gay is well-versed in how to run a school.

Also, he was available.

Sort of.

Gay had just retired after 32 years in education. He was ready to spend his days fishing and playing with his grandchildren.

That lasted two weeks.

“He indicated he was interested and could be talked out of retirement,” Henderson said.

Gay, who always wanted to run a school, accepted the offer, telling the trustees that he would work for two years. This year is his fourth as head of school.

“I don’t know,” he said, “I fell in love with the job.”

Eventually.

Gay admitted that what he found when he took over was not what he expected. The test scores for reading and math were below grade level.

“I saw a lot of disturbing data, and I knew that there had to be some drastic reform,” he said.

Where to start? The faculty.

Gay filled the vacancies with a mix of seasoned teachers and college graduates.

“It's always been my philosophy that there's no one more important than the teacher in the classroom,” Gay said. “So, I got busy trying to hire people that I knew would get the job done, that I could trust, that I knew.

“With the young teachers, I felt that we could give them the support they needed and turn them into good teachers.”

Gay has coached football and track. He won back-to-back state track titles and came within three points of winning a third straight. He knows how to build a staff of assistant coaches. You hire coaches for their expertise and let them coach.

It’s the same with the teachers.

“The cool thing about Andy that I love is he’ll help you if you need help,” said Anthony Piragnoli, who is in his sixth year at RFM and teaches high school English and coaches the middle school football team. “Now, if you're a new teacher and you kind of need some help, he'll definitely help you out and give you all the resources and all the tools you need. But if you're more experienced, he kind of lets you, I don't want to say do your own thing, but he gives you the freedom to teach the way you want to teach.”

 Of course, nothing is more important to a school than the students themselves. To raise the academic bar, Gay and his staff created a welcoming, yet demanding culture.

“It’s all about the expectations you put on the kids,” he said.

And the expectation was that they would become better readers.

Gay instituted DEAR Time, which stands for “Drop Everything And Read.”

A first-grade teacher came up with the idea for the Bobcat Buddy Program, which pairs upper school students with lower school students for mentorships and companionship.

That led to Bobcat Buddy Book Day, where upper school students bring a book or check one out from the library to read to their lower school buddy.

“You go out on campus, and you see kids lining the sidewalk or on the playground, and the big buddy is reading to the little buddy, and I think that is wonderful,” said Dawn Burch, director of education.

The programs work. Two years ago, only 48% of RFM students were reading at grade level. That has increased to 73%.

Halsell’s data shows the school experienced 93.8% growth across the board in reading, math, and science since Gay took over. Last year, 13 of 30 seniors graduated with associate's degrees through the school’s newly implemented dual enrollment program.

But it takes more than just the teachers to get students to work harder. The parents have to buy in, too.

“I want partnerships between parents and teachers,” Gay said. “It can’t be adversarial. I found it makes a huge difference in the overall academic growth of the child when there is a partnership.”

Toward that end, parents are always welcome on campus. Teachers are encouraged to call parents when their child does something positive in class.

“We can call about good stuff, too,” he said.

There is an excitement around RFM that hadn’t been there in years, Henderson said. Last year’s alumni golf tournament raised $25,000, which went toward the school’s curriculum. Halsell works tirelessly to reconnect with alumni and build a network of donors. She recently announced that the school secured a $500,000 grant for its STEM program.

The school sits on 44 acres with plenty of room to expand. A new gymnasium would be nice.

Those rain clouds that appeared over the school on that July afternoon did little more than threaten. Much like the metaphorical storm clouds that were forming when Gay took the job.

“He’s done a phenomenal job,” Henderson said.

Two years turned into four for Gay, and four can turn into who knows how long.

“I feel like I will stay here as long as I continue to see progress and I continue to feel good about this place,” Gay said. “Right now, I feel like we're on the verge of some greatness.”

If anyone needs more proof that the future of education is in Florida, take a look at the winners of Thursday night’s Yass Prize Awards. Seven Florida-based providers, including two finalists who took home $250,000 each, were among the 23 honored for their innovative and scalable programs.  

One of the finalists, Pepin Academies, is a charter school network with three campuses in the Tampa Bay area. It offers students with learning disabilities in grades three through 12 an inclusive environment where academics and essential therapies happen together in real time.  

“I have always rejected the principle that we have to think outside the box for students with disabilities,” said Jeff Skowronek, executive director of the 25-year-old network. “A truly inclusive society is one that understands how to make the box bigger.”  

Pepin stands out for its small class sizes, ESE-certified teachers, and onsite specialists, including mental health counselors, social workers, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, ESE specialists, and registered nurses, according to Yass Prize offices. This ensures their children receive individualized attention throughout the entire school day. In addition to its schools, Pepin operates a transition program for young adults ages 18-22.  

According to Yass Prize officials, the award empowers Pepin Academies to serve students earlier, expand their transition program, and bring their therapeutic model to more families seeking a school that understands and supports exceptional learners at every stage. 

The other finalist, WonderHere, is a network of child-centered microschools that focus on play-driven, project-based learning and personalized education to let children learn at their own pace. 

“We are so excited and grateful to the Yass family and the Center for Education Reform for selecting WonderHere as a finalist,” said Tiffany Thenor, who opened the first campus in Lakeland after spending seven years in the public education system. She opened WonderHere to challenge the norms of schooling and prove that learning can be more joyful, flexible, and deeply human. A second location opened later in Anderson, South Carolina, and a third is planned for Davenport, Florida, near the original location. 

Thenor said the prize money will help her find a permanent location for the Davenport campus and create more space for families to experience the “project-based, family-centered, wonder-filled learning environment” that WonderHere offers. 

The following Florida providers were named semi-finalists and received $100,000 each: Archimedean Schools of Miami; Space Florida, Merritt Island; Ecclesial Schools, Oviedo; American High School, a national online program headquartered in Plantation that serves youth in the justice system, and GuidEd, a Tampa-based bilingual program that provides free, unbiased information about educational choices to help families determine the best fit for their children.   

 “GuidEd looks forward to using our Yass award money to enhance our call center capabilities to provide more sophisticated and personalized 1:1 support for families and to reach new families who may be entering the education freedom marketplace for the first time," said Kelly Garcia, who founded GuidEd with her brother-in-law, Garrett Garcia.  

The Yass Prize, often called the “Pulitzer of Education Innovation,” began in 2021 to recognize innovative educators who delivered top-tier learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Philanthropists and education choice champions Jeff and Janine Yass established the award and continue to fund the program.

The top winner takes home a $1 million prize. This year, it went to Chesterton Schools Network, a national network of classical high schools rooted in Catholic values. Though headquartered in Minnesota, Chesterton has Florida schools in Orlando, Pensacola, Sarasota, and Vero Beach, with a fifth set to open in 2027 in Melbourne. Primer Microschools, which began in Florida and has expanded to other states, won the grand prize in 2024. That year, it announced the establishment of Primer Fellowship, which provides paid training for edupreneurs seeking to open Primer Microschools in their communities.

MIRAMAR, Fla. – Florida’s explosion in à la carte learning has created space for all kinds of new, state-supported educational experiences, including, improbably, a class in building with power tools that’s tucked inside an ashram, a kind of spiritual retreat, with a grove of mango trees and a colony of especially plump iguanas. 

The class is run by Builder’s Workshop, an à la carte provider founded by Marvin and Christine Hernandez. The couple retrofitted an old horse stable on the property into a student workshop, humming with saws, drills, and sanders.  

Now, just a few months in, they’re already serving 30 students a week, all in middle and high school. Nearly all of them use education savings accounts (ESAs), the flexible state scholarships that are fueling Florida’s fast-growing universe of à la carte learning. 

“They say build it and they will come, and people are coming,” Christine said. “Families are hungry for it.” 

The same could be said for à la carte learning in Florida. 

Enabled by ESAs, à la carte learning is when families use state support to customize their child’s education completely outside of full-time schools, by picking and choosing from multiple providers. This school year, 140,000 students will do à la carte learning in Florida, up from about 8,000 five years ago, and their families will spend more than $1 billion in ESA funds. As we detail in a new data brief, nothing on this scale is happening anywhere else in America. 

As the number of à la carte learners expands, so does the supply of places they can go. 

Last year, 4,318 providers received ESA funding in Florida, more than double the year prior. Many of them are tutors and therapists. But a growing number are like Builder’s Workshop, specialized, micro-programs that would have been inconceivable as public education just a few years ago. 

Inside Builder’s Workshop, students learn how to operate tools safely and confidently. They build birdhouses, step stools, shoe racks, and in one class I visited, “shields of faith.” Along the way, they pick up habits that rarely come from screens. 

“Teaching kids to use tools and build things … builds confidence, responsibility, and real-world skills,” Marvin said. “It teaches them problem-solving, patience, and how to work safely. It also strengthens their math and creativity, gets them off screens, and helps them feel capable of making and fixing things.” 

“Plus, from a Christian view,” Marvin continued, “it reflects God’s design for us to create and steward the world around us.” 

(Builder’s Workshops offers both secular and Christian classes.) 

Some Builder’s Workshop students are members of a Montessori co-op that also uses the property. Some are not. In the rapidly evolving world of à la carte learning, lines blur, and kids, families, and educators cross them freely. 

“I just love building stuff,” said student Jasmin Hernandez (no relation to Marvin and Christine), a 16-year-old who wants to be a carpenter. Jasmin spoke briefly between noisy cuts with a band saw. 

That DIY attitude is what Builders Workshop wants to cultivate. 

“We want them to know they can fix a table if they need to fix a table,” Christine said. But “we also want them to know they can create their own products if they want to.” 

Marvin and Christine are fixtures in South Florida’s fine arts scene. Marvin is a longtime artist; Christine has a background in project management. Among other services, their company designs and builds custom display cases, pedestals, and other structures for museums, galleries, and private homes. 

So, they know their power tools. They also understand the broader potential. 

To date, the expansion of ESAs hasn’t done much to enhance career and technical education. But student interest is growing for those skills and jobs, even as some quarters worry about a lack of qualified teachers. Florida, though, is full of highly trained professionals — builders, craftspeople, men and women skilled in the trades — who could be part of the solution. 

Maybe ESAs are the bridge that connects them. 

Maybe Builder’s Workshop is a glimpse of what that could look like. 

Jasmin’s mom, Michelle Hernandez, said her daughter is already close to graduating because she took so many dual enrollment classes through her prior school. So, Michelle decided to homeschool Jasmin and let her explore more nontraditional classes. 

Builder’s Workshop, she said, is “an outlet to be creative but with items that have a purpose. Building things also means not having to wait for others to do it, and she can see her own ideas come to life.” 

Jasmin’s 13-year-old brother, Cristian, is also enrolled. Michelle said he looks forward to it because hands-on learning registers more deeply with him. Plus, she said, “He’s a boy. He needs to move.” 

Kelly Jacobo said likewise about her son, Malakai, who’s also 13 and taking the class. 

Jacobo said her grandfather and great-grandfather were accomplished carpenters, so Builder’s Workshop was perfect. “It kind of runs in the family,” she said. “I’ve been praying for forever that there’d be a woodworking class for kids.” 

The backdrop for Builder’s Workshop couldn’t be more colorful. Even though it’s in super urbanized South Florida, it’s hidden down a graded road lined with banana trees. Around the corner is the mango grove, where the iguanas, clearly living their best lives, feast when the fruit is in season. 

Alas, this setting is going to fade from the story. The owner recently sold the land, so Marvin and Christine will be looking for new digs soon. They don’t anticipate a problem with demand, however, and the families they serve are devoted. 

“We don’t know where or when it will happen,” she said of finding a new place, but “we have an immense amount of faith that more families will join once we open our doors.” 

By David Heroux and Ron Matus

In the blink of an eye, à la carte learning in Florida has become one of the fastest-growing education choice options in America.

This school year, 140,000 Florida students will participate in à la carte learning via state-supported education savings accounts, up from 8,465 five years ago. Their parents will spend more than $1 billion in ESA funds.

These families are at the forefront of epic change in public education. Completely outside of full-time schools, they’re assembling their own educational programming, mixing and matching from an ever-expanding menu of providers.

Nothing on this scale is happening anywhere else in America.

To give policymakers, philanthropists, and choice advocates a snapshot, we produced this new data brief. In broad strokes, it shows a more diverse and dynamic system where true customization is within reach for any family who wants it.

ESAs shift what’s possible from school choice to education choice. They give more families access not only to private schools, but tutors, therapists, curriculum, and other goods and services.

Adoption of these more flexible choice scholarships has been booming nationwide; 18 states now have them. But nowhere is their full potential more fully on display than in Florida.

Last year, 4,318 à la carte providers in Florida received ESA funding, more than double the year prior. Many of them are tutors and therapists, but a growing number offer more specialized and innovative services, as we highlighted in our first report on à la carte learning. Former public school teachers are also a driving force in creating them, just as they’ve been with microschools.

How far and fast à la carte learning will grow remains to be seen. For now, check out our brief to get a glimpse of what’s ahead.

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.”

The Ivins' 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.

Florida's education choice scholarships managed by Step Up For Students allow 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 sophomore 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 (seventh grade) and Lucas (fourth 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 second 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.”

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Four years ago, Phil and Cathy Watson were distressed and desperate. Their daughter Mikayla, then 12, was born with a rare genetic condition that led to physical and cognitive delays. With her school situation getting worse by the day, they needed options, now. 

The Watsons were open to private schools. But they couldn’t find a single one near their home in metro D.C. that met Mikayla’s needs. They even looked in neighboring states. Nothing. 

One day, though, Phil varied his keyword search slightly, and something new popped up: 

A school for students with special needs that had low student-to-staff ratios, transition programs to help students live independently, even an equine therapy program.  

The Watsons feared it was too good to be true. Even if it wasn’t, it was 700 miles away. 

A destination for education    

Florida has always been a magnet for transplants. It’s tough to beat sunshine, low taxes, and hundreds of miles of beach. But as Florida has cemented its reputation as the national leader in school choice, the ability to have exactly the school you want for your kids is making Florida a destination, too. 

In South Florida, Jewish families are flocking from states like New York to a Jewish schools sector that has nearly doubled in 15 years. But they’re not alone. Families of students with special needs are making a beeline for specialized schools, too. The one the Watsons stumbled on has 24 students whose families moved from other states – about 10% of total enrollment. 

The common denominator is the most diverse and dynamic private school sector in America, energized by 500,000 students using education choice scholarships. 

According to the most recent federal data, the number of private schools in Maryland shrank by 7% between 2011-12 and 2021-22. In Florida, it grew by 40%. 

“What Florida is offering is just mind blowing compared to Maryland,” Phil said. “If a story like this ran on the national news, people would be beating the door down.” 

‘The kid who never spoke’  

Phil and Cathy Watson have six children, all adopted. They range in age from 1 to 39. All have special challenges. 

“God picked out the six kids we have,” said Cathy, who, like Phil, is the child of a pastor. “We feel very strongly that we were called to do what we do. Our heart says we have love to give and knowledge to share. These kids need that, so it’s a match.” 

Mikayla is their fourth child. She was born with hereditary spastic paraplegia, a condition that causes progressive damage to the nervous system. 

She didn’t begin walking until she was 18 months old. Even then, her gait continued to be heavy-footed, and she was prone to falling. Her speech was also, in Phil’s description, “mushy,” and until she was 12, she didn’t talk much. 

In many ways, Mikayla is a typical teen. She loves steak and sushi and Fuego Takis. Her favorite books are “The Baby-Sitters Club” series, and her favorite movies include “Beauty and the Beast” and “Beverly Hills Chihuahua.” Many of her former classmates, though, probably had no idea. 

In school, Mikayla was “the kid who never spoke.” 

Checking a box 

As Mikayla got older, she and her parents grew increasingly frustrated with what was happening in the classroom. “She was being pushed aside,” Phil said. 

Teachers would tell her to read in a corner. Between the physical pain from her condition and the emotional turmoil of being isolated, she was crushed. Sometimes, Phil said, she’d come home and “unleash this fury on my wife and I.” 

The pandemic made things worse. In sixth grade, Mikayla was online with 65 other students. Then, three days before the start of seventh grade, the district said it no longer had the resources to support her with extra staff. Instead, she could be mainstreamed without the supports; enroll in a private school; or do a “hospital homebound” program. 

The Watsons chose the latter. Three days a week, a district employee sat with Mikayla, going over worksheets that Phil said were “way over her head.” 

“All it was,” he said, “was checking a box.” 

Just in the nick of time, the school search turned up a hit. 

Florida, the land of sunshine and learning options

What surfaced was the North Florida School of Special Education. 

“From just the pictures, I’m thinking, ‘This looks legit,’ “ Phil said. “Both of us are like, ‘Wow.’ “ 

When the Watsons called NFSSE, as it’s called for short, an administrator answered every question in detail. This was not the experience they had with some of the other private schools they called. 

At the time, Phil owned a home building company, and Cathy worked for a counseling ministry. They lived comfortably. But they were also paying tuition for another daughter in college. 

Thankfully, the administrator told them Florida had school choice scholarships. For students with special needs, they provided $10,000 or more a year. 

The Watsons couldn’t believe it. They were familiar with the concept of school choice but didn’t know the details. Maryland does not have a comparable program. 

The administrator also told them NFSSE had a wait list. But the Watsons had heard enough. 

A fortuitous phone call 

A few weeks later, they were touring the school. 

The facilities were stellar. Even better, the administrator leading their tour knew the name of every student they passed in the hallways. “We were blown away,” Phil said. “They truly care. “ 

At some point, the staff ushered Mikayla into a classroom. As her parents watched from behind one-way glass, another student greeted Mikayla with a flower made of LEGO bricks. 

For years, Mikayla had been withdrawn around other students. Not here. The shift was immediate. She and the other students were using tablets to play an interactive academic game, and “you could see her turn and laugh with the kids next to her,” Phil said. 

Minutes later, he and Cathy were in the administrator’s office, “bawling our eyes out.” 

“We said, ‘We’re all in. We have to be here. We’ll be here next week if that’s what we have to do.’” 

Days later, the Watsons were at Disney World when NFSSE called. Unexpectedly, the family of a longtime student was moving. The school had an opening. 

New friends, improved skills and boosted confidence 

Even without the choice scholarship, the Watsons would have moved. At the same time, the scholarship was invaluable. The cost was not sustainable in the long run, Phil said, especially because he had to re-start his business. 

The Watsons rented a long-term Airbnb and then an apartment before buying a house in Jacksonville. They uprooted themselves completely from Maryland, including selling their dream home. 

“That was hard,” Cathy said. “You’re leaving everything you love.” 

Mikayla’s turnaround, though, has made it all worthwhile. 

Mikayla was reading at a first-grade level when she arrived at NFSSE; now she’s at a seventh-grade level. She loves the new graphic design class. She won an award for completing 1,000 math problems. “When she got here, she couldn’t add two plus two,” Phil said. 

Her verbal skills have blossomed. She eventually told her parents something she didn’t have the ability to tell them before: In her prior school, she didn’t talk because other students laughed at her. 

At NFSSE, the “kid who never spoke” speaks quite a bit. 

One day, she served as “teacher for the day” in her personal economics class, delivering a lesson on how to make change. 

Mikayla is kind and quick to smile. She is surrounded by friends and admirers. “Mikayla is my best friend,” said a chatty girl with pigtails who waited by her side in the hallway. 

One boy held the door for Mikayla as she headed to her next class. A second hung her backpack on the back of her wheelchair. A third walked her to P.E. 

Mikayla’s confidence is growing outside of school, too. 

In the past, she wouldn’t say hi or order in a restaurant. But at Walmart the other day, Phil needed a card for a friend’s retirement, so Mikayla went to find a clerk. She came back and told him, “Aisle 9.” 

Mikayla has a bank account and a debit card. She tracks the money she earns from chores. She routinely uses the notes app on her phone to mitigate challenges with short-term memory. 

NFSSE, Cathy said, is constantly reinforcing skills and strategies to foster independence. It “pushes for potential,” just like the families do. 

Mikayla “sees that potential now; she’s excited now,” she said. 

Before NFSSE, the Watsons didn’t think Mikayla could live independently. Now they do.  

The school and the scholarship, Phil said, have “given Mikayla an opportunity for her life that we didn’t know existed.” 

He credited the state of Florida, too, for creating an education system where more schools like NFSSE can thrive. 

If only every state did that. 

TAVERNIER, Fla. – Every year, millions of students across America learn the foundational concept of place value in math. But it’s a safe bet few of them learn it at the beach.

At the first microschool in the Florida Keys, that’s exactly what a handful of kindergartners and first graders were doing with their teacher last week. Standing in the shade of buttonwoods on the edge of the Atlantic, they used mahogany seed pods, mangrove propagules, and sea grape leaves to help their brains grasp the idea.

In Florida, this is public education.

The students all use state-supported school choice scholarships to attend Coastal Glades Microschool, a new elementary school founded by former public school teachers Samantha Simpson and Jennifer Lavoie. Both 13-year educators, Simpson and Lavoie wanted a school that reflected their preferred approach to teaching and learning, as well as the goals and values of the families they sought to serve.

The result: Coastal Glades is Montessori-based, immersed in the outdoors, and deeply tied to the local community.

It’s also totally theirs to run as they see fit.

“We’re free. We own it. We don’t have anyone telling us what to do,” Lavoie said. “That’s priceless.”

Florida is leading the country in education freedom, with more than 500,000 students now using choice scholarships. Coastal Glades is another distinctive example of what that freedom looks like.

Microschools are popping up by the hundreds. Former public school teachers are the vanguard in creating them. All the new learning options are stunning, not just in volume but in diversity. In Florida, at least 150 Montessori schools participate in the choice scholarship programs, and at last count, at least 40 “nature schools” serve Florida families, too.

This movement is self-propelled. It’s driven by parents, teachers, and communities who are realizing more every day that public education is in the middle of a sea change. Now, they get to decide what “a good education” looks like.

For the past six years, Simpson and Lavoie worked together at the same school. As choice options exploded around them, freedom kept tapping them on the shoulder.

“We said, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just pick up these four walls and move? And it just be us?’” Lavoie said.

To get their bearings, Simpson called a friend, another former public school teacher who founded a microschool. This one happened to be 90 miles north in Broward County, the unofficial microschool capital of America. The friend gave her good advice. She also said starting her own school was “the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Learning at Coastal Glades is proudly “place based.” The colorful communities that populate the islands between the Everglades and the sea are an endless source of exploration and inspiration. Simpson and Lavoie want their students to know and love where they live, so they can grow up to be good citizens and thoughtful stewards.

“Being in the community, being in nature, that’s where you’re going to learn,” Simpson said.

The students learned about bees from a local guy who harvests mangrove honey. They visited a berry farm on the mainland. Even more exotic trips are on tap: To Everglades National Park. To the Keys’ sea turtle hospital. Even to a reef where the students will be able to snorkel near nurse sharks. “We want them to learn that some scary things are not really scary,” Simpson said.

Nearly every day, the students visit natural areas for play-based learning. After the math lesson beneath the buttonwoods, for example, they went hunting for hermit crabs and jellyfish.

“This is just as important as testing, as reading, as anything,” Simpson said. “We want to bring back childhood and the love of learning.”

That’s exactly why Alejandra Reyes enrolled her 5-year-old daughter, Daniella. Daniella’s curiosity is blossoming, Reyes said, because she’s in a small school with more individualized attention and more hands-on learning.

“I didn’t want her to be in class sitting down all day. She’s such a free-spirited little girl,” said Reyes, a stay-at-home mom whose husband is a marine mechanic. “She’s learning so much on her little adventures. It’s, ‘What’s this? What’s that? Let’s look it up.’ “

“We got so lucky that my daughter’s first experience with school is this microschool.”

Simpson and Lavoie like the state of Florida’s academic standards. They use them to guide instruction. But they’re not tethered to pacing guides, and they can switch gears or directions whenever it makes sense. They do that often with their one older student, a fifth grader who was bored in his prior school because he wasn’t being challenged.

At the beach the other day, the older student got to learn about mass, volume, density, and buoyancy while his younger classmates were doing the lesson on place value.

Simpson set out two buckets, one filled with freshwater, one filled with saltwater. The student built a mini boat out of aluminum foil to float on the surface of each, then carefully piled pennies into it to see which boat in which bucket could sustain the most weight. (The one in saltwater won.)

“He loves engineering and problem solving,” Simpson said. And the school has the flexibility to accommodate him with more advanced lessons.

As it becomes even more mainstream, school choice in Florida is experiencing some growing pains. Coastal Glades represents some of those challenges, too.

For classroom space, the school rents a 250-square-foot room in a church. The church meets fire codes for dozens of parishioners, but not for a handful of students. Coastal Glades isn’t the only unconventional learning option to learn about fire codes the hard way – see here, here, and here – but its predicament takes the cake.

In lieu of installing an expensive sprinkler system, which Simpson and Lavoie could not afford, the pair hired a local firefighter, at $37 an hour, to hang out while students were in the building. Since the additional requirements only kick in when there are more than five students, Coastal Glades was able to drop the firefighter as long as it capped enrollment.

Next year, the school will be in another building that shouldn’t have those issues, which means it will be able to serve more families.

Word’s already out on the “coconut telegraph” – that’s Keys-speak for grapevine – that the new school will be growing.

Reyes has no doubt that other parents will respond the same way she did.

“Times have changed. Schools are different,” she said. “What kid doesn’t want to be learning outdoors?”

So last week I related the incredibly weak evidence for the “death” of district schooling in Arizona. That evidence shows flat to gently sloping enrollment district enrollment, all-time highs for spending and remarkable academic improvement. Given that Arizona districts look more like an Olympic gold medalist than a corpse, I decided to check Florida for signs of mortality.

Behold: the “death” of Florida district education:

Rather than “dying” Florida school districts have added a number of students more than three times the size of the K-12 enrollment of Wyoming between 2003 and 2021 despite the growth of choice options. Moreover, Florida’s spending per pupil increased faster than inflation during this period, so more students and a higher real spending per pupil is a very odd way to “destroy” school districts.

Private choice enrollment has grown since 2021 (the latest data available across sectors) and now is likely slightly above Florida charter school enrollment. That would be because Florida’s lawmakers have (wisely) adopted policies to create a demand-driven K-12 system. Let’s check the NAEP to see how that went pre-pandemic:

Not bad, especially considering that Florida made huge NAEP progress before 2003 (before all states began participating in NAEP). As you can see from Figure 1, a large majority of Florida students still attend district schools, so we can safely infer that those district schools perform far better than they did before the advent of choice in the 1990s.

Across Florida, 14 schools received National Blue Ribbon honors this year from the U.S. Department of Education.  

Those recognized for exemplary performance include a Catholic school, five magnet or choice schools and five charter schools.  

Among the winners is a charter school based in rural Putnam County that focuses on the needs of economically disadvantaged students. The Children’s Reading Center of Palatka uses a self-paced model that rejects traditional textbooks. Instead, teachers design their own lessons based on students’ needs. 

“We focus on a standard for as long as needed until children are comfortable moving forward. There are no boxed curriculums at our school!” the school says on its Blue Ribbon profile page. The Title I school serves 257 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. 

MAST@FIU was among the Sunshine State’s magnet winners. Situated on Florida International University’s Biscayne Bay campus, it represents a collaboration between the university and the Miami-Dade School District. It offers a blend of face-to-face instruction and community-based projects with a focus on marine and environmental science.  

 Queen of Peace Catholic Academy of Gainesville, which serves 470 students in kindergarten through sixth grade, was a repeat winner, having made the national list in 2011. It was the only private school on the list this year. 

The U.S. Department of Education has given the awards annually for 40 years to more than 9,000 schools across the nation.  

All schools are recognized based on test scores for all students, test scores among subgroups and graduation rates for either high performance or closing achievement gaps. The list of gap-closing schools is shorter and includes no Florida schools this year.