Florida Gov. Rick Scott praised the state’s Catholic schools Tuesday night, noting their recent enrollment gains and crediting them for providing high-quality academic and spiritual experiences.
“Both my daughters went to Catholic high school. They had a great experience,” Scott said. “And it was great because not only did they have a great education, but they were taught about Jesus Christ and about the importance of being saved.”
The governor’s brief remarks came during a meet-and-greet at the Capitol building in Tallahassee between the state’s seven Catholic school superintendents and a handful of lawmakers. About 100 people were in attendance.
Florida’s 235 Catholic schools enroll 85,000 students in PreK-12. After years of falling enrollment, they saw modest increases for the second year in a row this year, thanks in large part to growth in the state’s tax credit scholarship program. (The program is administered by Step Up For Students, which co-co-hosts this blog.)
“So Catholic schools are clearly working,” Scott said.
He listed a handful of schools by name, including Bishop Moore High School in Orlando and St. Peter Claver Elementary in Tampa. He also noted he has three grandsons now, and there’s a good Catholic school near his daughter’s home. “So, I’m trying to be persuasive,” he said. But “at 31, they don’t listen quite as much.”
