Non-Public Schools are also overseen by the Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice (http://www.floridaschoolchoice.org ) Non-Public, also known as Independent or Private, schools are defined in Section 1002.01(2), Florida Statutes, as "an individual, association, copartnership, or corporation or a department, division, or section of such organizations, that designates itself as an educational center that includes kindergarten or a higher grade...below college level...." Private elementary and secondary schools in Florida are not licensed, approved, accredited or regulated by the state, but they are required to make their existence known to the Department of Education and respond to an annual survey designed to elicit information about them for public inspection. Otherwise, the state takes a relatively "hands-off" approach to non-public schools in Florida.

Since there is so little regulation of non-public schools, experiences will necessarily vary between schools and families need to be well informed about a private school's rules and regulations, curricula, history and other necessary information. Schools vary from standard brick and mortar institutional settings with standard curricula, to those that provide individualized home study programs.

Responsibilities of private schools to the state are limited, and they are solely responsible for all aspects of their own educational programs including:

• Certification, qualification and training of teachers and administrators;
• Content and comprehensiveness of the curriculum;
• Duties, qualifications and salaries of faculty and staff; tuition, class size, fee scales, pupil expenditures and refund policies;
• Student assessment, academic credits, grades and graduation or promotion requirements;
• Student regulation, dismissal and expulsion policies; and
• Student records content, retention, transfer and release.

As a result, there can be a wide variance between private schools regarding issues of dress code, discipline, punishment and behavior, extra curricular activities, religious participation, parental responsibilities and parental involvement in school activities .

The non-public schools page at the DoE also notes, that, "Participation in some federal programs is available to students whose private schools have met various requirements in addition to establishing compliance with criteria of the Office for Civil Rights. " and that "Aside from food and nutrition programs, private school students may participate in federal education assistance programs as a component of the public school district program. Questions regarding specific programs or civil rights compliance should be referred to the federal programs coordinator in the local public school district."

Since there is no state regulation of private school accrediting agencies, the DoE advises that families be aware of the following:

• Private schools operate as businesses or churches and are regulated accordingly.
• Private schools are not licensed, approved, accredited or regulated by the Florida Department of Education.
• Florida has no provision for state recognition of the various agencies that accredit private schools.
• There are many organizations, with widely variant quality standards and program requirements that accredit private schools. Consequently, the acceptance of diplomas, transcripts and transfer credits from private schools will be according to the requirements of the receiving institution.
• Requests for information about the accreditation of a specific school should be directed to the school staff or its designated accrediting agency.
• Requests for information about the acceptance of transfer credits from private secondary schools should be directed to the receiving school's admissions office.
• For admission to higher education programs, parents and students should direct questions to the particular program's admissions office.

Visit our Florida Non Public School Resource Guide for more state specific information about private schools in Florida.