
“If you can’t beat them, zone them out of existence.”
As some urban school districts in Florida experience dwindling public school enrollment, some South Florida municipalities blame nonpublic schools and turn to zoning to restrict their growth.
The City of Margate recently passed an ordinance making the minimum lot size for a high school 45 acres – in other words, enough space to fit half of Disneyland.
The City of Hollywood is currently deliberating changes to its zoning ordinance that would effectively ban all but the wealthiest of private schools from opening within the city limits.
And in Hallandale Beach, recent changes to its zoning code mean that no new schools can open in the city without a prohibitive $150,000+ worth of extra planning fees and 12-18 months’ worth of traffic studies and public meetings – with no guarantee the city will ever approve the project.
These drastic measures come at a time when parents want more schooling options for their children, not less.
The battle against nonpublic schools is nothing new. As far back as 1922, the Ku Klux Klan helped pass an amendment to the Oregon constitution requiring all students to attend public schools. Spoiler Alert: this was later declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The battle is also not just relegated to Margate, Hollywood or Hallandale Beach. Across South Florida, nonpublic schools face lengthy, expensive, and often prohibitive approval processes. This is according to a recent study by Teach Coalition that found that of 35 South Florida localities surveyed, nearly 90% severely restrict where nonpublic schools can open.
In many of those cities, schools are not allowed in any zoning district without going through a lengthy, expensive, and unpredictable approval process.
The result? In South Florida, it’s generally easier to open a bar — or even a smoke shop — than to open a new private school.
As an advocate for Jewish day schools, I have seen school after school unable to open or expand in South Florida. Many of our schools have waitlists, and recent enrollment data shows that in a few years, up to 2,000 children currently in Jewish day schools will not have a spot in a Jewish high school.
Zoning officials aren’t coy about why they are creating these roadblocks to new schools. In fact, in a recent City Commission meeting, one Commissioner plainly stated that Tallahassee’s support for nonpublic schools is all part of its plan to “destroy our public education system.”
Another Commissioner stated that private schools are not dissimilar to smoke shops in that too much competition is a bad thing. Finally, there was the implication that we should mandate children to attend their community public school in the name of creating unity, stating, “Allowing a school on every corner, you are not creating community, you are dividing community. You are separating the students from a community school and saying these students can go to this little school and these students can go to that little school.”
With such opposition at the local level, only the Florida Legislature can come to the rescue. If Florida truly wants to empower parents, the state should look to do two things: 1) provide private schools the same zoning flexibilities that public schools receive, and 2) pass a statewide preemption allowing small schools to open regardless of local zoning restrictions.
Florida’s school choice policies will only be as successful as the educational marketplace permits. Without the ability to create new schools and expand existing schools, parents will have nowhere to use their scholarships.
Every child deserves to find the best school for them. Let’s make sure those schools can exist.
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Danny Aqua is the Southern States Political Director at Teach Coalition. Before his education advocacy career, he was an elementary school teacher at Jewish day schools and practiced real estate law at Blank Rome LLP. Danny holds a Master of Science in Jewish Education from Azrieli Graduate School and a Juris Doctor from Cardozo School of Law.
6 comments
JD
January 16, 2025 at 2:23 pm
This is a puff piece to cannonize vouchers as being good, and the use of a Jewish person that works in Jewish schools seems very “tokenesqe”.
Choice is good – if they have to follow the same rules and regulations and the public schools. Firm up those rules and make it equal, or stop with this nonsense.
Bottom line.
This guy has a vested interest in non-public schools getting public money. Follow the money.
JD
January 16, 2025 at 2:24 pm
Oh and the reference to history of the Klan is nice heartstring pull, but do better. Fix the underlying issue.
Cindy
January 16, 2025 at 5:26 pm
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MH/Duuuval
January 16, 2025 at 10:07 pm
A more appropriate historical context goes back only to 1954 when “massive resistance” of Southern whites to the Supreme Court Brown decision resulted in “choice” to maintain Jim Crow segregation.
JD
January 16, 2025 at 10:17 pm
Agreed.
Personally I think choice is overrated because it dilutes the ability of the common public to get a proper education because it dilutes their buying and purchasing power into private schools that often don’t need the money because the students parents have means.
And before anyone starts down the path of “why should I pay for someone else”, I can give you about 10,000 what-about-isms of wealthy getting their stuff paid for. And educated society is a peaceful and productive society.
But this seems to keep getting forgotten – why? I suspect that an educated society isn’t as easily duped and questions their ramble rousing leaders the only know how to “sling red meat” and “culture war”.
ScienceBLVR
January 16, 2025 at 2:48 pm
In many of those cities, schools are not allowed in any zoning district without going through a lengthy, expensive, and unpredictable approval process.
The result? In South Florida, it’s generally easier to open a bar — or even a smoke shop — than to open a new private school.
So, just let anyone, anywhere open a school with a quick cheap non adherence to state curriculum standards process and take millions in taxpayer monies and hope , hope that the old Winn Dixie that’s now a school does a good job? In Pinellas after that lengthy process a school opened, and did so poorly it closed after a few years.. and those kids? Dumped back into public schools. But where’s the money to educate them? That’s gone baby. At least until the next year. Where’s the data on the student standardized test score comparison between those voucher schools and the public ones? Oh that’s right, voucher schools don’t need to adhere to those lengthy rules and guidelines…
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