St. Alban's Church in Seminole County got the green light to grow its small private school all the way through 12th grade, with county commissioners voting unanimously on November 10 to approve the expansion. The decision clears the way for three additional portable classrooms on the church's 9.64-acre campus east of the intersection of Aloma Avenue and State Road 417, even as commissioners opted to keep a 250-student enrollment cap that one board member had pushed to eliminate.
From Pre-K to a Full K-12 Campus
The approval, first reported by Oviedo Community News, lets the church expand its leased private school from serving pre-K and elementary students into grades 6 through 12. According to a separate account from Citizen Portal, planning staff recommended approval of the special exception, noting the church already hosts education uses on the site and meets parking requirements. St. Alban's Church itself has operated since 1983, while the Ecclesial School at St. Alban's was founded in 2018.
Rev. Peter Joslyn said the school currently enrolls 135 students and is aiming for a capacity of 230 to 250 students — the maximum the campus size allows, per Oviedo Community News. The campus currently has six portable classrooms, and the expansion plan calls for three more, which would occupy space closer to Aloma Avenue than the existing school buildings. Before any new construction can begin, the school must submit formal site plans, and the project requires an approved site plan before permitting as well as future approval by the Board of County Commissioners for any building expansion.
Traffic Concerns and a Contested Cap
Seminole County Principal Planner Annie Sillaway said officials are concerned about traffic queuing around the campus, the outlet reported. School officials countered that many students come from large families with multiple siblings attending, which they say reduces the overall traffic impact, and the school plans to use staggered start times to further ease congestion.
Commissioner Bob Dallari wanted the board to remove the 250-student cap altogether, arguing that building size — not an arbitrary enrollment limit — should determine how many students fit on campus. Commissioners ultimately kept the cap in place anyway, according to the same report. The Citizen Portal account separately noted that the special exception comes with conditions limiting hours, enrollment and outdoor lighting at the site, which sits in an A-1 agricultural zoning district.
An Affordability Model Built on Vouchers
The Ecclesial School is part of the Ecclesial Schools Initiative, a locally based nonprofit founded by Kevin Clark that says it aims to provide affordable private Christian education. The school charges annual tuition of $12,500, but Clark said state-funded vouchers reduce that cost significantly, bringing the average out-of-pocket expense for families below $2,000 — roughly $1,700 to $1,800 per year.
That voucher-driven affordability model mirrors a broader statewide trend. Florida's private-school enrollment climbed to 496,519 students in the 2024-25 school year, an increase of 30,515 students from the year before, according to the Florida Department of Education, which counted 81 private schools operating in Seminole County. Statewide, 352,860 students used vouchers to attend private campuses as of February 2025, with voucher use jumping 67% since the state's newer voucher law took effect, the Orlando Sentinel reported. More than 122,000 students began using vouchers for the first time in the 2023-24 school year, and nearly 70% of them were already enrolled in private school, the newspaper found.
The Sentinel's reporting also touched close to home: nearly 90% of students at St. Luke's Lutheran School in Oviedo use state-paid vouchers to help cover tuition of about $11,000 per year. Florida's education department notes that private elementary and secondary schools are not licensed, approved, accredited or regulated by the state — a distinction separate from the county land-use approvals that govern campus expansions like St. Alban's.
Not the Only Local Campus Growing
St. Alban's is far from the only Seminole County religious school seeking more room. The county commission previously and unanimously approved an expansion at Trinity Preparatory School, greenlighting a two-story, 30,000-square-foot science building on the forested northeastern end of that campus, Oviedo Community News reported. In that case, commissioners removed Trinity Prep's enrollment cap entirely, though the school would still need separate approval from Orange County before it could actually increase enrollment.
Elsewhere in the region, a Longwood church seeking approval for a new sanctuary ran into pushback from nearby residents over traffic and safety concerns, even as church leaders maintained the expansion would not substantially increase traffic, according to FOX 35 Orlando. For St. Alban's, the Ecclesial School at the church plans to open to additional students by fall 2027. Clark said the Ecclesial Schools Initiative, which already operates a campus in Longwood, is also opening a location in Orange County, with an announcement about a third location expected within two to three weeks.
