Florida independent school accreditation evidence: turn daily attendance and drill records into visit-ready proof

Florida does not require your independent school to be accredited. If you choose accreditation through FCIS, Cognia, ACSI or AISF, you are choosing to let an outside team read how your school runs day to day.

That makes your daily records the FCIS accreditation evidence you need. Discover what those records are, where Florida's attendance bills stand, and how to keep everything ready between visits.

Accreditation in Florida is your choice

The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) does not accredit, regulate, approve or license private schools. It also does not officially recognize any accrediting agency. State law says your annual private school survey and directory listing must not be used to suggest approval or accreditation by the state.

As such, accreditation comes from the organization you choose. There are several organizations for you to choose from, including (but not limited to):

• Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI)
• Association of Independent Schools of Florida (AISF)
• Cognia
• Florida Council of Independent Schools (FCIS)
• Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS)

Some organizations have agreements in place, which is why many Florida schools hold two accreditations. For example, FCIS has cooperative agreements with Cognia, ACSI, and SAIS.

Though accreditation is voluntary, many independent schools choose it for outside credibility. FCIS lists a smoother transition to higher education for graduates as a benefit of membership, and the state notes that each college or employer decides whether to accept a private school diploma. The process of becoming accredited also ensures every department reviews its own practice, creating opportunities for improvement.

Some accreditors also appear in Florida's Voluntary Prekindergarten statute and in Florida High School Athletic Association membership rules. Thus, choosing accreditation can open practical doors.

What your records show a visit team

An FCIS accreditation runs on a self-study against written standards, followed by an evaluation visit. For a high school with more than 800 students, the visit team can be 12 to 14 people. Your accreditor's current standards name the documentation it expects, so start there.

A visiting team sees how your school runs on an ordinary day. These records help tell that story:

• Daily attendance by period
• Leave Passes and dismissal records
• Emergency Roll results, with the measured time it took to account for students

Each record is only as good as the day it was made. In Orah, the live roll shows every student, every period, updated as staff marks them. The record you hand a visit team is the one your staff has built each day, not one you had to compile a week before the visit.

Your drill results belong in that file. In Orah's 2026 survey of independent schools, 73% of schools measure drill performance. Schools that measure drill performance account for all students in 5.8 minutes on average, compared with 8.2 minutes for schools that do not. A measured time is something you can show during your visit.

At Northwood School in New York, a NYSAIS accreditation committee chose students at random during a live drill. Assistant Head for School Life John Spear says everyone was accounted for within 90 seconds.

Several attendance bills have recently stalled

Florida lawmakers tried to tighten attendance rules in 2025 and again in 2026. The bills that would have reached independent schools did not become law.

• HB 1367 (2025) passed the House 116-0 and died in Senate Rules in June 2025. It would have defined absence and chronic absenteeism and set attendance reporting at least four times a year. Its list of amended statutes included 1002.42, the private school statute.
• HB 1181 and SB 1190 (2026) would have required district school boards to set up an alert when a student reaches the truancy threshold. Both died on March 13, 2026.
• HB 579 and SB 690 (2026) would have required private schools in the Family Empowerment Scholarship Program to give parents written information, including attendance policies, before enrollment. Both died.

Two related laws did pass. SB 1344 (2025) reworks truancy intervention and gives children a right to counsel in truancy cases. It is built around the public school process. SB 1470 (2025) expands the guardian program, but its new panic alert and digital map integration only cover public and charter schools.

Regardless of whether these laws passed or apply to independent schools, your baseline has not changed. Private schools keep attendance records for compulsory attendance purposes under Florida Statutes 1002.42(4) and 1003.23(2). Attendance bills have now been filed in back-to-back sessions, and one cleared a chamber unanimously, so it’s not unreasonable to expect similar bills to resurface in the future.

Use the FDLE assessment grant

HB 1473 (2024) created a School Security Assessment grant run by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The Legislature appropriated $5 million for 2024-25. The money goes to local law enforcement agencies, not directly to schools.

Agencies use it to assess your campus, write up recommendations, help you plan your response to serious situations, and provide training. They work from FDLE's standard assessment tool, and the grant does not cover armed security.

The 2024-25 round ran from September 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. Ask your local sheriff's office or police department whether it is taking part, and ask FDLE whether funding continues.

If you receive an assessment, keep the report with your accreditation evidence. It is a dated record, and it shows a visiting team that you asked for an outside review.

A simple way to prepare

1. Read your accreditor's current standards and list every place attendance, dismissal, and drill documentation comes up.
2. Pick a typical week and pull attendance by period, leave passes, and dismissal records for that week.
3. Record the measured time of any drills you conduct, including the date.
4. Contact your local law enforcement agency about an FDLE assessment.

Keep the evidence current all year

A visit comes every few years. With Orah, your attendance records are built daily from your regular routines.

• See Real-Time Attendance by period, with the live roll updating as staff mark students
• Spot patterns early with Attendance Insights and Attendance Alerts
• Run an Emergency Roll so staff can account for their group from a phone, wherever they are
• Manage Leave Passes and dismissals in the same place, so you know where students are

Those marks stay in Orah as part of your operational records. Records that are accurate for any given day are the ones you can hand over at a visit, regardless of what new laws come into effect. Register for this on-demand webinar to hear what changed for Julie Katz, Registrar/Website and Database Manager at Donna Klein Jewish Academy, when they adopted Orah’s automated attendance functionality.

See how it works

To see how one Florida school uses Orah with FACTS to keep students safe, just register to watch the recording of this online event. Kindall Crummey, Director of School Counseling at Bishop John J. Snyder High School, discusses their experience implementing Orah and what Orah’s two-way sync has meant for them.

Watch the recording