In South Florida, Parents Are Building Their Children’s Education a la Carte

Twelve years ago, Christa Jewett left her job as an environmental consultant in South Florida to start a venture that spoke to her heart: offering immersive, hands-on marine science lessons to students of all ages, using local and state parks along the Atlantic Ocean as real-life classrooms.

For years, Jewett had to work side jobs because her passion project couldn’t pay the bills. Then, in 2020, COVID happened; suddenly, a flood of families wanted something other than traditional schools. Now, Saltwater Studies is serving 200 students a month, triple the number from 2020, and Jewett recently hired another teacher to keep up with demand.

She isn’t alone.

South Florida has dozens of fresh a la carte providers like Saltwater Studies, operations that focus on a single subject or specialized niche, from core academics to coding, cooking and composting. Former public school teachers and talented career switchers like Jewett are among those creating them. And as I note in a new report, they’re attracting thousands of students. Many of them are homeschooled or attending microschools — and many of them are among the nearly 400,000 students using Florida’s education savings accounts, the largest publicly funded education choice programs in America.