Florida private schools get billions from state but few rules to obey

Private schools get nearly $5 billion a year in state vouchers but aren’t graded like public ones, says a lawsuit that asks: Is that fair to parents?

The Palm Beach Post | By: Wayne Washington | June 29, 2026

Schools in the Palm Beach County School District will soon get letter grades from the state Department of Education.

The grades of A, B, C, D or F will mark the school either as one of excellence or one that needs to improve the academic performance of its students. Teachers and administrators will earn praise or admonishment; high-performing schools get additional state funding.

And parents will be able to use the grades in deciding whether to enroll their child in a particular school — or whether to end their enrollment in it.

None of that is in the offing for private schools in Palm Beach County or anywhere else in the state.

Billions in taxpayer-funded voucher money has bouyed the coffers of private schools in Florida each year, but parents considering whether to enroll their child in one can still largely learn only what that school chooses to share.

Unlike public schools, private schools are not given a state letter grade. Their students are not required to take state academic assessments, though private schools that accept vouchers must either have students take an assessment approved by the state Department of Education or opt into the state’s testing regime.

Private school graduation rates are not publicly reported, and the state does not require private school teachers to be certified.

The difference in accountability for private schools is a central element of the lawsuit parents and the Florida Education Association filed against various state officials and the state Department of Education, which oversees the voucher program.

The lawsuit, filed in May, alleges that the expanded use of taxpayer money for private school vouchers violates the state constitution in part because those schools lack the transparency of public schools.

“Over the past two decades, and especially in recent years, the state has built a system where publicly funded schools operate under very different rules,” the suit states. “Schools receiving taxpayer dollars are no longer held to the same standards, the same oversight, or the same level of accountability. As a result, students are not being served equally.”

State officials have scoffed at the suit. Department of Education spokesperson Cassie Edwards said the FEA, the largest association of education professionals in the state, is “once again wasting taxpayer dollars and members’ dues on a frivolous lawsuit.”

Lawsuit: Florida parents can’t learn if private schools do better than public

Palm Beach County is home to 150 private schools, according to information the schools are required to submit to the state on an annual survey. Little else is required of private schools in Florida, and that’s by design.

The Department of Education makes clear on its website that the state law requiring private schools to complete an annual survey is only “to provide a ‘service to the public’ and not to regulate, control, approve or accredit private educational institutions.”

The department added that it “does not verify the accuracy of the data submitted pursuant to the annual survey. Inclusion of a school’s information in the database does not imply approval or accreditation by the Department of Education.”

Private schools in Palm Beach County and across the state obtain accreditation through various agencies, but parents have no independent way of knowing if a particular private school consistently produces strong results.

Florida Senate Minority Leader Lori Berman attended an immigration forum at West Palm Beach City Hall in downtown West Palm Beach, Fla., on January 30, 2026.

That rankles supporters of traditional public schools.

“While our public schools are being squeezed by overregulation and inadequate funding from the state, we’re handing out billions in taxpayer dollars to private schools with almost no accountability,” said state Sen. Lori Berman, a Boynton Beach Democrat who leads her caucus in Tallahassee.

“Beyond costing the state a fortune and draining money our public schools desperately need, it is causing unneeded confusion for parents.”