1
Dorothy C York Pk-8 Magnet School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades PK-8·~1,381 students
DOE 2026 · NCES
Co-ed
TuitionFree
TypeMagnet
Students~1,381
TAMPA BAY
Best Elementary Schools in Tampa Bay tuition-free
Independent rankings of Elementary schools in Tampa Bay, built from director interviews and verified data — never from school payments.
94 schools indexedUpdated this week
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Religion
- Independent (non-religious)4A private school with no religious affiliation.
- Baptist1
- A private school run by the Catholic Church.
- A private school rooted in the Jewish faith.
Grade level
Specialty
Affordability
- Tuition-Free519
- ≈$0 with scholarship348Accepts Florida scholarships that help cover tuition.
- Under $20K list208
Verified
Director-verifiedRolling out
Looking for the best elementary schools in Tampa Bay? We track 94 K-12 options that serve elementary grades. Tampa has the highest concentration with 50 schools, followed by St. Petersburg (21). 8 of these schools accept Florida Step Up / FES scholarships — roughly 9% of the list — so families using state-funded scholarships have real choice here.
Elementary admissions decisions tend to weigh family fit and developmental readiness more than test scores. Most schools assess via a play-based visit at age 4-5 and rolling interviews for K-5 transfers. 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: Under $20K list, ≈$0 with scholarship.
Showing 10 of 94 Tampa Bay schools
How we rank
We rank by how well each school fits your family — academics, cost, distance, and values. Never by size, popularity, or payment (schools can’t pay for rank). The coarse admission-likelihood band is always free.
- 2Winthrop Charter School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades K-8·~1,344 students
DOE 2026 · NCES
SecularCo-edLikely · general · by school type · freeOpen-enrollment charter — most applicants are admitted when seats remain; oversubscribed grades use a lottery. General signal, not personalized.
TuitionFreeTypeSecularStudents~1,344 - 3Madeira Beach Fundamental K-8
St. Petersburg·Pinellas County·Grades K-8·~1,334 students
DOE 2026 · NCES
Co-edTuitionFreeTypeMagnetStudents~1,334 - 4Pinecrest Academy Wesley Chapel
Wesley Chapel·Pasco County·Grades K-8·~1,259 students
DOE 2026 · NCES
Co-edLikely · general · by school type · freeOpen-enrollment charter — most applicants are admitted when seats remain; oversubscribed grades use a lottery. General signal, not personalized.
TuitionFreeTypeCharterStudents~1,259 - 5Dayspring Academy
New Port Richey·Pasco County·Grades K-12·~1,259 students
DOE 2026 · NCES
SecularCo-edLikely · general · by school type · freeOpen-enrollment charter — most applicants are admitted when seats remain; oversubscribed grades use a lottery. General signal, not personalized.
TuitionFreeTypeSecularStudents~1,259 - 6Slam Academy at Apollo Beach
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades K-12·~1,235 students
DOE 2026 · NCES
Co-edLikely · general · by school type · freeOpen-enrollment charter — most applicants are admitted when seats remain; oversubscribed grades use a lottery. General signal, not personalized.
TuitionFreeTypeCharterStudents~1,235 - 7Southshore Charter Academy
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades K-8·~1,230 students
DOE 2026 · NCES
Co-edLikely · general · by school type · freeOpen-enrollment charter — most applicants are admitted when seats remain; oversubscribed grades use a lottery. General signal, not personalized.
TuitionFreeTypeCharterStudents~1,230 - 8Bridgeprep Academy Of Riverview Elementary
Riverview·Hillsborough County·Grades K-5·~1,207 students
State-licensed
Likely · general · by school type · freeOpen-enrollment charter — most applicants are admitted when seats remain; oversubscribed grades use a lottery. General signal, not personalized.
TuitionFreeTypeCharterStudents~1,207 - 9Waterset Charter School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades K-8·~1,169 students
DOE 2026 · NCES
Co-edLikely · general · by school type · freeOpen-enrollment charter — most applicants are admitted when seats remain; oversubscribed grades use a lottery. General signal, not personalized.
TuitionFreeTypeCharterStudents~1,169 - 10Henderson Hammock Charter School
Tampa·Hillsborough County·Grades K-8·~1,151 students
DOE 2026 · NCES
SecularCo-edLikely · general · by school type · freeOpen-enrollment charter — most applicants are admitted when seats remain; oversubscribed grades use a lottery. General signal, not personalized.
TuitionFreeTypeSecularStudents~1,151
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.
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Frequently asked questions
Are these schools tuition-free?
Yes. Every school on this page is publicly funded — either a charter or a tuition-free public-school-of-choice option. Families pay no tuition; standard public-school district enrollment rules and lottery procedures apply.
How competitive is admission in Tampa Bay?
Admissions selectivity ranges from open-enrollment (most charters and parish schools) to highly selective (top independent K-12 programs). Each school's profile page lists deadlines, test requirements, and any published acceptance rate.
Do these schools accept Step Up / FES scholarships?
8 of the 94 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?
Pinellas Preparatory Academy is the smallest with 10 students; Dorothy C York Pk-8 Magnet School is the largest at 1381. 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.
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