1
Skycrest Christian School
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~603 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordable
Tuition$15.7K/yr
TypePrivate
Students~603
CLEARWATER
Best Private Elementary Schools in Clearwater under $20K
Independent rankings of Private Elementary schools in Clearwater, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.
13 schools indexed0 director-verifiedUpdated this week
Not sure which fits your child? Take the 2-minute match quiz.
Get your top 5 matches — ranked by grades, budget, location, and your child's strengths.
Grade level
Affordability
Verified
AdmitCompass tracks 13 private elementary-level schools in Clearwater. Annual tuition ranges from $2.8K/yr to $17.4K/yr, with a median of $12K/yr across schools that publish a number. Clearwater has the highest concentration with 13 schools. 12 of these schools accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — roughly 92% of the list — so families using state-funded scholarships have real choice here.
Private schools on this page set their own admissions criteria. Most ask for a school visit, prior records, and a family interview; competitive K and 6th-grade entry points often fill 6-9 months before the start of school. Every school is re-verified through direct outreach to admissions teams; data is refreshed on a 180-day cadence and timestamped on each profile.
See also: Scholarship-friendly, Tuition-Free.
Showing 10 of 13 Clearwater schools
- 2Lakeside Christian School
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades KG-12·~370 students
Accepts scholarshipsChristianCo-edAffordableTuition$14K/yrTypeChristianStudents~370 - 3Clearwater Academy International Inc.
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-12·~323 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$15K/yrTypePrivateStudents~323 - 4Countryside Christian Academy
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades KG-08·~289 students
Accepts scholarshipsChristianCo-edAffordableTuition$11.1K/yrTypeChristianStudents~289 - 5Delphi Academy Of Florida
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-12·~279 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$12K/yrTypePrivateStudents~279 - 6Safety Harbor Montessori Academy
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-09·~165 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$17.4K/yrTypePrivateStudents~165 - 7L.i.f.t Academy
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades KG-12·~160 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$15.3K/yrTypePrivateStudents~160 - 8Tampa Bay International School
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~48 students
Accepts scholarshipsCo-edAffordableTuition$14K/yrTypePrivateStudents~48 - 9Saint Cecelia Interparochial
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~473 students
Accepts scholarshipsCatholicCo-edAffordableTuition$9.9K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~473 - 10Guardian Angels Catholic School
Clearwater·Pinellas County·Grades PK-08·~214 students
Accepts scholarshipsCatholicCo-edAffordableTuition$8.7K/yrTypeCatholicStudents~214
How we rank these schools
Built relationships, not scrapers. AdmitCompass ranks schools using a composite score that blends four signals: enrollment size (a proxy for stability and program breadth), tuition reasonableness within the local market, freshness of our most recent verification, and a small bonus for schools with full admissions detail published on their profile.
Public data comes from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and each school's own admissions pages. The information that actually matters to most families — acceptance rates, deadlines, what a director cares about — comes from direct interviews with school directors and admissions coaches across our active markets.
We do not publish scoring weights or per-axis thresholds. That keeps the moat intact: the rankings reflect actual conversations with people inside schools, not a formula anyone with a crawler could clone. Every profile is re-verified on a 180-day cadence, and the "last updated" date is timestamped on every school page.
Narrow your search
Combine filters to get a tighter shortlist.
By Grade Level
By School Type
By Program / Specialty
Frequently asked questions
What's the average tuition for elementary schools in Clearwater?
Across the 13 schools on this list, annual tuition ranges from $2.8K/yr to $17.4K/yr, with a median of $12K/yr. Many schools offer financial aid, sibling discounts, or accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — check each school's detail page for current aid policy.
How competitive is admission to private schools in Clearwater?
Selective private schools review transcripts, teacher recommendations, an admissions test (ISEE or SSAT for grades 5-12), and an in-person visit. Acceptance rates vary widely — some schools accept nearly every qualified applicant, while top-tier programs admit fewer than 25%. Apply 9-12 months ahead of the start date.
Do these schools accept Step Up / FES scholarships?
12 of the 13 schools on this page accept Florida's Step Up For Students / FES-EO / FES-UA scholarships. That covers most or all of tuition for income-eligible families. Each school's detail page lists the specific scholarship programs accepted.
What's the smallest and largest school on this list?
Gulf Coast Classical Academy is the smallest with 31 students; Skycrest Christian School is the largest at 603. Smaller schools tend to offer more direct teacher contact and tighter community; larger schools usually have more elective and extracurricular breadth.
Is this list updated?
Yes. We re-verify school data on a 180-day cadence through direct contact with admissions teams, plus cross-checks against FLDOE, NCES, and published school sources. Each school profile shows the date of its most recent verification.
Related lists
Adjacent searches families often run from here.
See your child's personalized match
Our 2-minute quiz factors in grades, budget, location, and goals to surface the best-fit schools from this list.