After more than three years of quietly studying the Palm Beach County market, one of South Florida's most established private schools is making its move north. Pine Crest School — the 1934-founded independent day school with campuses in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton — announced on June 2 that it plans to open a third campus in West Palm Beach, accelerated by what the school calls a landmark philanthropic commitment from the Stephen M. Ross Foundation.
The expansion lands at a moment when West Palm Beach has become one of the Southeast's most dynamic education markets. The school points directly to the forces reshaping the region: a wave of corporate and financial-services relocations, the arrival of major institutions like Vanderbilt University and Cleveland Clinic, and the families following them in search of top-tier schooling. Pine Crest's leadership frames the new campus as a way to welcome those families while forging relationships with the businesses anchoring the city's "Wall Street South" rise.
The Ross Foundation gift is positioned as more than seed money for a single building. Pine Crest says it will also strengthen its existing Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale campuses through investment in academic programs, faculty recruitment and retention, and expanded spaces for research, technology, entrepreneurship, engineering, artificial intelligence, and experiential learning — with each campus drawing from the shared resources of a more connected institution. The school, which awarded more than $10.6 million in financial aid in the 2025–26 year alone, is leaning on philanthropy from alumni, parents, and friends to carry the vision forward.
For now, the school is candid that the details that matter most to families — the campus location, the grade levels, admissions, staffing, and an opening timeline — are still being finalized and will be shared in the months ahead. Pine Crest currently educates 1,829 students in Fort Lauderdale (pre-K through 12) and 878 in Boca Raton (pre-K through 8), and the announcement was signed by President Dr. Dana Markham and Board of Trustees Chair Todd Rosenberg. Updates are being posted at pinecrest.edu/growing-together.
What's clear is the ambition behind it: a three-campus Pine Crest aiming, in its own words, to lead the nation in educational excellence while holding onto the close-knit culture that has defined the school for nearly a century — and planting its flag in the fastest-rising corner of South Florida.