TL;DR: Orange County has 294 private schools in the state's directory, and 218 of them are flagged to receive the Florida Private School Scholarship. Most are small: 107 report fewer than 50 students, while 16 report 500 or more. Participation is high among the large schools and patchy among the tiny ones, so the flag is the first thing to check.
How many private schools and students are there in Orange County?
The Florida Department of Education directory lists 294 private schools registered in the Orange County district, and their latest annual surveys report 37,097 students from pre-K through grade 12.
Size is wildly uneven. The four largest are HomeLife Academy (1,741), Windermere Preparatory School (1,682), Bishop Moore Catholic High School (1,653) and The First Academy (1,181). At the other end, 41 schools reported no enrollment on their latest survey, which usually means a newly registered program or a school between years. The table groups the rest.
| Reported enrollment | Schools |
|---|---|
| None reported | 41 |
| 1 to 49 students | 107 |
| 50 to 199 students | 90 |
| 200 to 499 students | 40 |
| 500 students or more | 16 |
Which Orange County private schools accept the Florida Private School Scholarship?
218 of the 294 schools carry the FTC or FES-EO participant flag, the designation that lets an Orange County family apply the $8,420 (K-3), $7,831 (4-8) or $7,639 (9-12) award for 2026-27.
The Unique Abilities flag (FES-UA) sits on 215 schools and the PEP flag on 41. The first two overlap almost completely: 211 schools carry both, and 72 carry neither. Size matters too, because 50 of the 56 schools with 200 or more students are flagged for the standard scholarship, a far higher share than among small programs.
Do religious private schools in Orlando take the scholarship more often than secular ones?
Yes, by a clear margin: 127 of the 155 religious schools (81%) carry the FTC/FES-EO flag, against 91 of 139 non-religious schools (65%).
The gap is partly a quirk of what counts as a private school. The non-religious group also includes early-learning programs and specialty schools whose grade range may not include K-12. Among the religious schools, the largest single group is non-denominational Christian. The Christian school directory and the independent school directory show the flags school by school.
Is an accredited Orlando private school the same as a scholarship-eligible one?
No: 57 schools report at least one accreditation to the state, 29 of them through Cognia, but 51 of the accredited schools are also scholarship participants, and accreditation is not what makes a school eligible.
Florida does not require private schools to be accredited, and the scholarship's gate is registration with the state plus participation through Step Up For Students or AAA. The two labels answer different questions, as the table shows.
| Label | It tells you | It does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Accredited | An outside body has reviewed the school | Whether the state scholarship can be used there |
| FTC/FES-EO flag | The state scholarship can be used there | The school's academic quality |
| Both | Reviewed and scholarship-ready (51 schools) | The tuition |
What does the state directory not tell an Orlando parent?
The most important missing number is tuition: schools never report it to the state, which means no directory built on state records can print a price honestly.
Posted prices vary a great deal. Faith Christian Academy in Orlando lists 2026-27 tuition of $14,350 for kindergarten through grade 5, well above the $8,420 K-3 award, while a smaller church school may sit close to it. The directory also cannot say whether a grade has an opening or whether a school accepts mid-year transfers. Every school page on this site repeats the state record with its pull date so you can see exactly what is on file, and the what is left after the award page shows how the gap works.
How should a parent turn these numbers into a shortlist?
Begin with the participation flag, then narrow by grade range and size, because those two filters remove most of the 294 schools before any visit.
A family with a fourth grader needs a school whose grade range includes grade 4, which rules out every program that stops at pre-K or kindergarten. Size comes next. A school with 40 students offers a very different day from one with 1,600, and neither is better by default. Small programs often mean mixed-age classrooms and one teacher knowing every child; large campuses usually mean more electives, athletics and a bigger tuition conversation. The state record cannot tell you which you will prefer, only which are plausible.
Then use the flags as a sorting tool rather than a verdict. A school with no scholarship flag may still be worth a call, since flags reflect the participation the state has on file at the pull date, and a school can join between pulls. Our school directory filters by type and community, and each school page shows enrollment by grade where the school reported it. Pair that list with the award calculator to see what each grade would receive. Plan three or four visits rather than ten, and ask every school the same questions so the answers are comparable.
One more habit pays off: write down the date of every number you rely on. The enrollment figures here come from surveys that schools filed in earlier years, and the flags come from an October 28, 2026 pull, so a school that reorganized over the summer may look different in person. Treat the directory as the starting point for a phone call, never the end of the research.
Related questions
- Which Orange County private schools take the scholarship?
- How much does the Private School Scholarship pay in Orange County?
- How much will my family receive?
- What are the 2026-27 deadlines?
Frequently asked questions
How many private schools and students are there in Orange County?
The Florida Department of Education directory lists 294 private schools registered in the Orange County district, and their latest annual surveys report 37,097 students from pre-K through grade 12.
Which Orange County private schools accept the Florida Private School Scholarship?
218 of the 294 schools carry the FTC or FES-EO participant flag, the designation that lets an Orange County family apply the $8,420 (K-3), $7,831 (4-8) or $7,639 (9-12) award for 2026-27.
Do religious private schools in Orlando take the scholarship more often than secular ones?
Yes, by a clear margin: 127 of the 155 religious schools (81%) carry the FTC/FES-EO flag, against 91 of 139 non-religious schools (65%).
Is an accredited Orlando private school the same as a scholarship-eligible one?
No: 57 schools report at least one accreditation to the state, 29 of them through Cognia, but 51 of the accredited schools are also scholarship participants, and accreditation is not what makes a school eligible.
What does the state directory not tell an Orlando parent?
The most important missing number is tuition: schools never report it to the state, which means no directory built on state records can print a price honestly.
Sources
- Florida DOE Private School Directory, Orange County district, pulled Oct 28, 2026
- Step Up For Students, 2026-27 Scholarship Amounts: FTC, FES-EO and PEP by District
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