Florida county sees over 1,000 families enrolling in school choice program after expansion

Over 1,000 new families in St. Johns County, Florida, have enrolled in the state’s school choice program for the 2025-26 academic year, Action News Jax reports.

The Florida Department of Education is putting $55.6 million toward private school tuition for families in the county through the Family Empowerment Scholarship program – more than double the $25.4 million spent last year.

This reflects about 1,032 additional families opting out of the public-school system, the county says.

Now, over 5,300 families in the county are taking advantage of the increase.

The St. Johns County School District serves 52,544 students in Grades K-12 across 51 schools, according to its website; in addition to traditional public schools, the district includes three public charter schools and a virtual school.

St. Johns County in northeast Florida has about 273,000 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The county seat is St. Augustine, settled by the Spanish in 1565 as the oldest city in America.

The influx of students comes as Florida has expanded private school choice in recent years.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed universal school choice legislation into law in 2023.

Earlier this year, the number of students using private school choice scholarships in Florida surpassed 500,000 students.

“Florida is the No. 1 state for education because of our commitment to providing every student with the option that works best for them,” DeSantis said in a statement. “I am proud that we have enabled over 500,000 students to access a high-quality education that fits their individual needs.” 

Additionally, Florida enacted more school choice legislation earlier this year.

While two of the bills dealt with charter schools, one benefited private schools.

SB 248 allows private-school students to play on public-school sports teams in their local district if the school they attend lacks a specific sport.

“The best thing we can do for our kids is to give them options to play in sports,” Community Leadership Academy (CLA) founder Peter Boulware told WCTV in February.

“Get them involved, get them playing, get them in something,” he added. “The more we can do that, the opportunities we can give our students, the better we can make our students.”

Boulware leads a private K-12 school in Tallahassee. His school has nine sports teams. However, it lacks some popular sports such as football, baseball, softball and lacrosse.

The pro-school choice efforts come as public-school enrollment nationwide has declined by more than 1 million students since 2020, as The Heartlander reported.