The Florida Department of Education has released updated enrollment data for Florida nonpublic schools. This data reflects enrollment taken in October 2024, for the 2024-2025 school year.
1. Overall Nonpublic Enrollment.
Florida’s nonpublic school enrollment reached 448,743 in 2024, an increase of 32,761 students (+7.9%) from the previous year. This is the largest single-year gain in recent history and continues a four-year trend of rapid growth, averaging 25,000 new students annually since 2021.
In comparison, annual increases before 2021 were much smaller, ranging between 2,000 and 15,000 students. This highlights the apparent impact of Florida’s state-sponsored scholarship programs, eligibility for which began expanding in 2021 and became universal in 2023.
2. Enrollment Trends by Religious Affiliation.
In 2024-25, nonpublic school enrollment increased across nearly all groups. The largest gains were seen among the following groups:
• Independent and Non-Denominational Schools grew by 20,000 students – a 9.4% increase over the prior year.
• Baptist Schools grew by 4,310 students – a 9.8% increase over the prior year.
• Other Christian Schools grew by 4,235 students – a 9.8% increase over the prior year.
• Catholic Schools grew by 2,797 students – a 3.4% increase over the prior year.
• Jewish Schools grew by 1,088 students – a 7.4% increase over the prior year.
• Muslim Schools grew by 331 students – a 5.8% increase over the prior year.
As of 2024-2025, the group that had the most K-12 students were Independent and Non-Denominational schools with 232,447 students (52% of the total). This was followed by Catholic schools with 85,667 students (19.1% of the total), Other Christian schools with 60,374 students (13.5% of the total), Baptist schools with 48,449 students (10.8% of the total), Jewish schools with 15,765 students (3.5% of the total), and Muslim schools with 6,041 students (1.3% of the total).
3. Enrollment Trends in Jewish Schools.
Jewish schools grew by 1,088 students in the 2024-2025 school year, a 7.4% increase over the previous year. This growth rate is only slightly below the average annual increase of 8.0% observed over the prior five years, starting with the 2020-21 school year.
3.1. Jewish Enrollment Growth by Region.
Growth in Jewish schools was concentrated in Broward (+496, +14.2%); Miami-Dade (+283, +4.0%); and Palm Beach (+220, +7.4%).
Some growth was also seen in Orlando (+36, +7.8%); Fort Myers, Sarasota, Tampa (+23, +5.6%); and Gainesville, Jacksonville (+30, +15.3%).
3.2. Enrollment Trends by Jewish Category.
Modern Orthodox Schools – defined as Orthodox schools that are coed – saw significant enrollment growth, with an increase of 483 students (+10.0%).
Yeshivish Schools – defined as Orthodox schools where students are gender-segregated – saw moderate enrollment growth, with an additional enrollment of 351 students (+5.8%).
Non-Orthodox Schools saw some enrollment growth with an additional enrollment of 254 students (+6.7%). This continues Florida’s exceptional trend of growing Non-Orthodox schools, defying a downward slide in nationwide Non-Orthodox Jewish school enrollment that has continued since 1990.
