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Florida school districts
| K-12 education in Florida | |
 | |
| Education facts | |
| State superintendent: Anastasios Kamoutsas | |
| Number of students: 2,838,866 | |
| Number of teachers: 163,558 | |
| Teacher/pupil ratio: 1:17 | |
| Number of school districts: 69 | |
| Number of schools: 4,202 | |
| Graduation rate: 87% | |
| Per-pupil spending: $9,937 | |
| See also | |
| Florida Department of Education • List of school districts in Florida • Florida • School boards portal | |
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Public education in the United States Public education in Florida Glossary of education terms | |
| Note: These statistics are mainly from government sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Education Statistics. Figures given were the most recent as of October 2022. | |
Florida is home to 4,212 schools and 2,668,156 K-12 students.[1]
Quick facts
State school administrators
- State Board of Education
- Pam Stewart, Commissioner
- Gary Chartrand, Chair
- John R. Padget, Vice Chair
- Dr. Ada G. Armas
- Marva Johnson
- John A. Colon
- Rebecca Fishman Lipsey
- Andy Tuck
Statistics
The following table displays the state's top 10 school districts by total student enrollment.
Demographics
The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in Florida as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.[2]
| Demographic Information for Florida's K-12 Public School System | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Students | State Percentage | United States Percentage** | |
| American Indian | 9,888 | 0.37% | 1.10% | |
| Asian | 67,758 | 2.54% | 4.68% | |
| African American | 612,465 | 22.95% | 15.68% | |
| Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl. Students | 3,008 | 0.11% | 0.42% | |
| Hispanic | 762,854 | 28.59% | 24.37% | |
| White | 1,131,901 | 42.42% | 51.21% | |
| Two or More | 80,282 | 3.01% | 2.54% | |
| **Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity. | ||||
In the news
A+ Plan for Education
In 1999, former Gov. Jeb Bush and former Commissioner of Education Frank Brogan made major changes to a failing Florida school system. This took shape in the "A+ Plan for Education," which opened up the choice for students to attend a school of their choice if they had previously been placed in a failing school. Schools also began receiving A through F grades based on their performance on standardized tests. High-performing schools were rewarded and low-performing schools were given extra help. The plan has received notable praise, with the graduation rising from 52 to 75 percent over that last 15 years. Many states have since pointed to Florida for its successes as being the only state to narrow the achievement gap between white and black students.[3]
State law
Common Core
Common Core, or the Common Core State Standards Initiative, is an American education initiative that outlines quantifiable benchmarks in English and mathematics at each grade level from kindergarten through high school. The Florida State Board of Education adopted these standards on July 27, 2010, and implemented them during the 2013-2014 school year. In February 2014, the Florida State Board of Education made changes to the original Common Core State Standards, adding Mathematics Florida Standards (MAFS) and Language Arts Florida Standards (LAFS), which were to be implemented during the 2014-2015 school year.[4][5]
Florida's attempts to implement Common Core standards have met with some difficulty. In 2013, Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) announced that the state would not be using the Common Core-aligned exams developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PAARC), as the state would be withdrawing from the organization. In March 2014 the Florida Department of Education awarded a $220 million contract to allow the state to develop a replacement standardized test. However, the Lee County School District School Board voted to opt out from statewide standardized testing. This drew considerable backlash from state officials, including a threat by the governor to remove the school board from power. Shortly after the original vote, the board reconvened and rescinded its vote, meaning Lee County was once again subject to Common Core standards.[6][7][8]
School board composition
School board members are generally elected by residents of the school district, however all vacancies are filled by appointment of the governor. School boards must include at least five members by state law; across the state, boards typically have seven to nine members. They serve four-year terms that are staggered. Districts with five-member school boards must be divided into five member residence areas and districts with seven must either be divided into seven member residence areas or five member residence areas, with one member elected from each area and two members elected at-large.[9]
District types
All K-12 districts in Florida are county-wide school systems. Each county area in the state constitutes a school district for the administration and the operation of public schools.[10]
Term limits
As of a 2012 Supreme Court ruling, charter counties can impose term limits on locally-elected officials.[11]
School board elections
Upcoming elections
- See also: Florida school board elections, 2014
A total of 38 Florida school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held elections in 2014 for 124 seats. There was a general election on August 26, 2014, for districts with competitive seats. If no candidate received a majority of votes for a particular seat, a runoff election was held on November 4, 2014, to determine a winner.
Here are several quick facts about Florida's school board elections in 2014:
- An average of 2.33 candidates ran for each board seat up for election in 2014 in Florida’s largest school districts by enrollment, which was higher than the national average of 1.89 candidates per seat.
- 21.77 percent of the school board seats on the ballot in 2014 were unopposed. This was lower than the 32.57 percent of seats that were unopposed nationally.
- 78.23 percent of the incumbents whose seats were on the ballot ran for re-election in 2014, and they retained 63.71 percent of the total seats up for election.
- A total of 45 newcomers were elected to school boards in Florida. They took 36.29 percent of the total seats, which was slightly lower than the 38.19 percent of school board seats that went to newcomers nationally.
- The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2014 was Miami-Dade County Public Schools with 346,842 K-12 students.
- The smallest school district by enrollment with an election in 2014 was Columbia County School District with 9,810 K-12 students.
- Broward County Public Schools had the most seats on the ballot in 2014 with six seats up for election.
- Charlotte County Public Schools had the fewest seats on the ballot in 2014 with two seats up for election.
The districts listed below served 2,517,857 K-12 students during the 2010-2011 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.[12] Click on the district names for more information on the district and its school board elections.
Path to the ballot
Florida state law requires that all candidates at the time of qualifying take an oath that they are qualified electors of their county. In order to qualify as such, a candidate must be a resident of Florida and the county wherein he or she registers to vote. Although the completed oath is an affirmation at the time of execution that the candidate meets the requirements for qualifying such as residency, in practice, the candidate is expected to meet the requirements at the time of assuming office unless otherwise provided for constitutionally, legislatively or judicially.[13]
Campaign finance
Candidates and committees must report all contributions, loans, expenditures, distributions and transfers, regardless of the amount. They must report the full name and address of each person making the contribution or receiving the expenditure and, for contributions over $100, the occupation.[14]
See also
- School board elections portal
- United States school districts
- List of school districts in Florida
- Florida Department of Education
- Public education in Florida
- Florida
External links
- Florida Department of State
- Florida Department of Education
- Florida School Board Association
- Florida Education Association
- National Center for Education Statistics school district search tool
References
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "State Education Data Profiles," accessed August 15, 2013
- ↑ United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data (CCD), State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey, 2011-2012," accessed May 7, 2014
- ↑ Sunshine State News, "Florida Celebrates 15 Years of A+ Plan for Education," July 3, 2014
- ↑ Common Core: State Standards Initiative, "Core Standards in your State,” accessed July 12, 2014
- ↑ Florida Department of Education, "Bureau of Standards and Instructional Support," accessed June 17, 2014
- ↑ Tampa Bay Times, "Florida Education Department gives nonprofit $220 million contract to replace the FCAT," March 17, 2014
- ↑ The News-Press, "Lee County makes history, opts out of state-mandated tests," August 28, 2014
- ↑ 10 News, "FL school district reverses historic opt-out vote," accessed July 17, 2015
- ↑ Florida House of Representatives, "Florida District School Boards," accessed July 9, 2014
- ↑ United States Census Bureau, "Florida," accessed July 9, 2014
- ↑ Jacksonville.com, "PolitiJax: Florida Supreme Court rules in favor of term limits for counties," May 11, 2012
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Elementary/Secondary Information System," accessed March 21, 2014
- ↑ My Florida Elections, "Guidelines for Determining When Residency Qualifications for Office Must be Met," accessed July 9, 2014
- ↑ Florida Division of Elections, "About Campaign Finance Reporting," accessed July 9, 2014
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