In a first, more than half of Florida's students are attending a school of choice instead of their neighborhood zoned public school.
Nearly 1.8 million Florida students, 51% of those in kindergarten through 12th grade, were enrolled at private, charter, home or magnet school instead of their neighborhood public school during the 2023-24 school year, according to data from Step Up for Students, a nonprofit that administers the state's voucher program.
Education experts like Michelle Gill, a University of Central Florida associated education professor and founder of a Seminole County charter school, say this trend spells trouble for traditional public schools.
Gill says fewer students at public schools means less funding and fewer resources like certified teachers and teachers aides. Orange and Lake county schools are two districts in Central Florida that have already announced layoffs due to a downturn in enrollment and funding.
"You're going to see overcrowding because there's going to be less money to hire teachers. You're going to have to put more kids in classrooms, larger classrooms, less services, because you're going to have less money. The money follows the student in Florida," said Gill, who chairs the board for Galileo School for Gifted Learning.
Gill said this trend could also lead to greater segregation at public schools.
More affluent families might continue to opt to attend private schools on scholarships, leaving low-income families and families of students with disabilities at understaffed and underresourced traditional public schools.
"We know kids learn best when they're in diverse classrooms, because it teaches them things like empathy, compassion, and they learn from each other. But if you have kids of all the same income level, the higher income level, all with their own same people, it's not helping anybody. You're just stratifying society. It's almost like you're increasing a class-based system," said Gill.
But Step Up for Students said it's a good thing for Florida families.
"This shift reflects a fundamental transformation in Florida's educational landscape — one where families are increasingly empowered to find the best fit for their children," the nonprofit said in a statement. "Choice is the new norm: Even attending your assigned district school has become a choice."
Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. have championed the cause and attributed higher graduation rates throughout the state to school choice, along with higher parent and student satisfaction with their educational experience.
Florida ranked first again this year on the Parent Power Index compiled by the conservative Center for Education Reform, largely because of school choice.
In its Changing Landscapes report, which looked at the growing number of Florida families opting for school choice, Step Up for Students found choice programs grew by about 116,000 students during the 2023-24 school year in Florida.
Public schools of choice, including charter schools, Florida Virtual School, magnet programs and career academies, remained the most popular, with four out of five students opting for these schools.
Enrollment in private and home school options also showed a marked increase, with about 142,000 more students attending a private or home school as the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO) and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) expanded eligibility for most families.
In February, Step Up for Students announced a record high number of applications for its school choice scholarships for the upcoming school year.
More than 120,000 families applied for K-12 scholarships through the portal the first two days it was open, twice as many as had applied at the same time the previous year.
School choice scholarship enrollment for 2024-25
Compiled by Step Up for Students
FTC = Florida Tax Credit Scholarship
FES-EO = Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options
FES-UA = Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities
PEP = Personalized Education Program
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