Are private schools and enterprises bound by the same anti-discrimination federal laws as public schools?
Federal anti-discrimination law prohibits privately owned facilities that offer food, lodging, gasoline or entertainment to the public from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. To the extent private schools offer food, lodging or entertainment to the public, as most private colleges do, they are precluded from discriminating on the basis of religion in vaccine matters. Further, as discussed earlier, private K-12 schools are mandated by Florida Statutes 1002.4 (6) and 1003.22 (4) – (5) to have the same immunization policies as Florida public K-12 schools. Private businesses that offer medical services, however, are not bound by federal religious anti-discrimination laws because private medical offices are not considered places of public accommodation.
