Plant City private school looks to expand as interest increases

PLANT CITY, Fla. — Choosing the best education for a child comes with a lot of decisions, whether it involves selecting a public school, homeschooling or a private school. In Florida, that decision is leaning more toward a private education for many parents.

From home life to education, Elizabeth Phillips, the PTO president at Faith Christian Academy private school in Plant City, loves being involved with her children and helps with events like the maji market.

“Every time they look around, they can see my face and I’m always there for them, that’s the main reason why I do it,“ she said.

Phillips says her children were enrolled in a public school until about two years ago when she decided to make the switch to a private education.

“My older two were struggling, the classes were a lot bigger, and they couldn’t get that one-on-one attention, and they were, in my opinion, just kind of falling through the cracks,“ she said.

She says smaller student-teacher ratio has helped her children succeed.

This comes as private school enrollment in Florida continues to grow. The latest report available from the Department of Education shows enrollment from the 2022 to 2023 school year increased by more than 28,000 students from the previous school year.

Enrollment specialist Nylah Williams says it’s a trend they’re experiencing firsthand. “Our elementary is growing very fast, we currently have 191 students here at Faith Christian Academy, and we are still growing for next year.”

The growth is so much that they’ve had to divide classrooms to accommodate more students.

Assistant principal Benimowei Jombai says they’re planning an expansion to meet the growing demand.

“As they say if you build, they will come and we built this; they’re coming so we need to build more so that more can come so that we can serve more people here in Plant City and the surrounding area,“ he said.

Head of school Nicole Williams says the expansion will also include additional amenities that will help preserve its faith-based education and sense of security. “A new athletics center, a welcome center, we want to make our center even more safe with gates and security.”

Phillips hopes the expansion will mean more opportunities for her children. “Once we get into more classrooms, they can have more socialization with more students.”

Faith Christian Academy is looking to start off the expansion by adding a modular building on its property, and school officials hope to host a groundbreaking for the new building in April, with a completion date in 2027.