Jewish education thriving in Florida thanks to school choice law

Jewish K-12 education is booming in Florida, and researchers credit the growth to the state’s universal school choice.  

Teach Coalition, an advocate for Jewish education, and Step Up For Students, a Florida-based education group, have released a new report detailing the promising enrollment trends in Jewish schools.  

It found Florida’s Jewish schools increased their enrollment by 58% between 2007 and 2023. Roughly four new schools have opened every year on average for the past decade.  

The massive influx is credited both to the COVID pandemic that inspired increased migration to Florida – particularly from New York – and the fact that Florida now offers generous school choice scholarships to all students.  

According to the report, 60% of Jewish school students received a scholarship in the 2022-23 academic year.  

The universal school choice program currently serves 136,000 students statewide.  

Notably, Jewish enrollment grew most at yeshiva schools (175%), which are Orthodox and gender-segregated, as opposed to coeducational Orthodox (65%) and Non-Orthodox (21%) schools.  

Although some have criticized the yeshiva school model for de-emphasizing secular topics, proponents defend their academic rigor, saying the benefits of such schools are “extraordinary.” 

However, private school growth also comes with challenges.  

“With Florida’s existing Jewish schools at or near full capacity, more effort is needed to source suitably sized school buildings,” said Danny Aqua, special projects director for Teach Coalition. “Without legislative and regulatory action to reduce the hurdles to opening new schools, the lack of school building space may throttle growth in Florida’s Jewish day schools.”  

Meanwhile, the growth isn’t confined to the Sunshine State.  

Recent surveys conducted by Prizmah, another Jewish education group, found Jewish schools across North America were increasing enrollment after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel. More than 90% of the surveyed schools reported receiving new enrollment inquiries, with 80% bringing in new students mid-year. 

Parents of students who transferred from a public school said they wanted their children to be in a Jewish environment (73%) and they feared antisemitism in their prior school or community (68%).   

Parents from independent schools similarly valued the Jewish environment (80%) and weren’t satisfied with their prior school’s response to the war (50%).