Contact: Rebecca Zisholtz
zisholtzr@teachcoalition.org
973-280-7582
Local Zoning Regulations Creating Major Barriers to Opening New Nonpublic Schools in Florida, Study Finds
Increasing Strain on Current Nonpublic School System’s Ability to Meet Increasing Demand for School Choice Options
January 13, 2025 (Hollywood, FL) — Nonpublic schools in Florida are facing critical regulatory challenges preventing them from keeping up with growing demand for seats. A new study from Teach Coalition’s Office of Jewish Education Policy and Research points to discriminatory local zoning regulations as the culprit, creating an unhospitable environment to grow existing schools and open new ones. The study surveyed 35 South Florida localities and found that nearly 90% severely restrict where nonpublic schools can open. Additionally, most municipalities require schools to go through a lengthy, expensive, and unpredictable approval process that can take years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. These additional requirements often include completing costly traffic studies (regardless of school size), holding extra public hearings, meeting nebulous standards for “compatibility” and “scale,” and arbitrary requirements for lot size, fence height, building sharing, and more.
Meanwhile, public school zoning regulations are often more lax, and public schools are allowed to open in many places where nonpublic schools cannot.
“This discrepancy between public and nonpublic school regulations undermines the state’s goal of providing diverse education outcomes for all Florida students. It indicates – at the local level at least – a degree of discrimination towards nonpublic school families,” said Danny Aqua, Southern States Political Director at Teach Coalition.
Other states such as Utah, Texas and Georgia, where educational freedom is also a priority, have taken legislative action to create hospitable environments for new private schools to open. Teach Coalition recommends that Florida follow suit and immediately pass a state law to pre-empt local zoning restrictions allowing:
- Small nonpublic schools to open in any zoning district in the state.
- All nonpublic schools to receive the same protections and flexibilities as public schools.
Concluded Aqua, “Without legislative and regulatory action to reduce the hurdles to opening new schools, we run the risk of throttling growth in Florida’s nonpublic schools and blocking families from seeking nonpublic school options in this state.”
The full study can be found here: https://teachcoalition.org/content/uploads/sites/9/2025/01/Florida-Zoning-Barriers-to-Entry-Report-Dec-2024_1.13-1.pdf
About Teach Coalition
Teach Coalition, a project of the Orthodox Union, is a nonpartisan, multi-state, grassroots movement devoted to advocating for equitable funding for nonpublic schools. Teach Coalition works to make nonpublic schools better, safer and more affordable. Teach Coalition advocates on behalf of approximately 90% of Jewish day school and yeshivah students nationwide and counts more than 90,000 dedicated volunteers, activists and subscribers among its supporters.
The Teach Coalition Office of Jewish Education Policy and Research was founded in 2023 to advance Teach Coalition’s public policy advocacy work and the Jewish community’s understanding of the U.S. Jewish education system. Read more at: https://teachcoalition.org/research/