Florida Public School Districts Shouldn’t Keep Private and Charter Schools From Utilizing Empty Public Facilities
16th December 2025
Jupiter Christian School, located 22 miles north of Palm Beach, Florida, has 700 students on their waiting list. The head of Grandview Prep, also near Palm Beach, reports that the number of applications to private schools in the area increased by almost 50% between 2017-2018 and 2022-2023. A charter school that serves students in grades K-8 near the heart of Orlando reports just three open seats and only across the 6th-8th grades.
In sum: There is high demand for private schools and public charter schools in Florida.
Meanwhile, at least two traditional school districts in Florida are reporting thousands of open seats, and taxpayers are paying for school buildings with declining enrollment.
Last week, Orange County Public School officials announced that so many students are leaving the district that administrators could close seven buildings—paving the way for private and charter school operators to gain access to the facilities. One Orange County middle school on the list of underused buildings has more than 900 open seats.
However, around the country, public school districts have been notorious for holding on to underused or even vacant facilities so private schools and charter schools cannot use the buildings. Heritage Foundation research has documented examples from Detroit, where the city’s public school district blocked charter school operators from accessing a building the school district did not even own.
Between 2010 and 2017, the Tucson Unified School District was maintaining at least a half-dozen closed district school buildings, even as the district had some 13,000 empty seats.
Unfortunately. government employees soon become convinced that government action is in every case and in every way preferable to private action, however stupid and inefficient that might appear to people who don’t live on a government paycheck.