Ask ten Tampa parents how many private schools there are in Hillsborough County and you will get ten guesses. The state actually keeps the answer. Every private school in Florida files an annual survey with the Department of Education, and that survey feeds a public directory that lists each school's grades, religious affiliation, accreditation, the disabilities it serves, and which state scholarship programs it takes part in. We downloaded the Hillsborough district on October 17, 2026. Here is what it shows.
203 schools, about 31,800 students
The directory lists 203 private schools registered to the Hillsborough district. Their most recent surveys report 31,771 enrolled students from pre-K through grade 12. Pre-K is the single largest grade (3,106 students), followed by kindergarten (2,683). Enrollment tapers through high school, to 1,635 seniors.
Most schools are small. 78 report fewer than 50 students, and 21 report zero enrollment on their latest survey, which usually means a school that is newly registered or between years. At the other end, Carrollwood Day School (1,252), American Youth Academy (1,214), Academy of the Holy Names (1,025), Cambridge Christian School (930) and Jesuit High School (857) are the largest by reported enrollment.
Scholarship participation: the flags that matter
The state directory carries four participation flags, and they are the most useful thing in it for a family thinking about money:
- FTC or FES-EO (the Private School Scholarship): 146 of 203 schools, about 72%. This is the award that pays $8,429 for grades K-3, $7,837 for grades 4-8 and $7,644 for grades 9-12 to a Hillsborough student in 2026-27.
- FES-UA (Unique Abilities): 143 schools. Almost every school that takes the standard scholarship also takes FES-UA — 141 schools carry both flags.
- PEP: 11 schools, mostly microschools and hybrid programs.
- Neither FTC/FES-EO nor FES-UA: 55 schools. Some are preschool-only programs; others are independent schools that have chosen not to participate.
Religious and non-religious schools split almost evenly — 103 and 100 — but participation does not. 86 of the 103 religious schools take the Private School Scholarship, compared with 60 of the 100 non-religious schools.
Where the participating schools are
Participation is highest in the eastern and northwestern suburbs. In Valrico, Dover and Plant City, 16 of the 17 registered schools take the scholarship. Carrollwood and Northdale (9 of 10), Town 'n' Country and Westchase (11 of 13) and Brandon and Seffner (19 of 24) are close behind. South Tampa has the most schools of any community — 21 — but a lower share participating (14), because several established independent schools there do not take the award. You can see each community's list on its directory page.
Accreditation and disabilities served
Florida does not require private schools to be accredited, and most are not. 60 Hillsborough schools report at least one accreditation. The most common are Cognia (29 schools), the Florida Council of Independent Schools (17) and the Florida Catholic Conference accreditation program (12).
102 schools tell the state which disability categories they serve. Specific learning disability (69), speech impairment (63), autism spectrum disorder (59) and language impairment (56) lead the list. That information is the fastest way to shortlist schools for a child using the Unique Abilities Scholarship.
Catholic, Christian and everything else
Seventeen schools list a Catholic affiliation, and sixteen of them take the Private School Scholarship. Non-denominational Christian schools are the largest religious group (37), followed by Baptist (17) and Pentecostal (9). The district also includes four Islamic schools, three Jewish schools, and Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, Adventist and Assemblies of God campuses.
What the data can't tell you
Tuition. Florida private schools don't report it to the state, so no directory built on state records can list it honestly. What the flags do tell you is whether the state award can be spent at a school at all — and for most families, that answers the first question. The second question is what's left after the award, and only the school can answer that.
Every listing on Tampa Edu Funding reproduces the state record with its retrieval date, so you can check the details and so schools can see exactly what the state has on file. When you're ready to turn a shortlist into a funding plan, start the two-minute funding check.