Mission

Christian Schools of Florida supports, encourages and accredits Christian early childhood, elementary, and secondary schools in the State of Florida that endorse “Transformational Education.”

Purpose

• To function as a recognized accrediting association in the State of Florida for Christian schools endorsing a perspective of education as articulated in the statement, Transformational Education.
• To function as a Florida state recognized program assisting Christian schools in teacher certification and master in-service.
• To provide opportunities for member schools to spiritually fellowship and professionally interact with one another.
• To provide representation for member schools in the State of Florida, with the legislature, the department of education, and other state and local agencies through membership in professional organizations, such as the Florida Association of Academic Nonpublic Schools (FAANS), and the National Council for Private School Accreditation (NCPSA).

History

In the early 1980s it became evident to a number of Christian schools that a unique and distinctive organization was needed in Florida to accredit and assist schools that endorsed and promoted Transformational Education. Many of these schools were accredited by other Florida organizations, both secular and Christian. The goal was an accrediting agency that would provide spiritual guidance and leadership not found in secular organizations, and provide higher quality professional and academic standards and processes not found at the time in other Christian organizations.

Christian Schools of Florida honors the legacy handed down to its member schools by the earliest known Christian school community in Florida, the Huguenot community, established at Fort Caroline in 1564. The growing persecution in France of French Calvinists led their most powerful member, Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, to seek a refuge for them in Florida. Member schools of CSF maintain the theological distinctives contained in Transformational Education practiced by those early French Protestant Christians.