More Florida kids attend a school of choice rather than a neighborhood public school

In a first for the state, more than half of Florida’s K-12 students are attending a school of choice, instead of their neighborhood zoned public school.

Nearly 1.8 million students, 51% of all K-12 students in the state, chose to attend a private, charter, home school, or magnet program instead of their neighborhood public school during the 2023-2024 school year, according to data from Step Up For Students, the nonprofit that administers the state’s voucher program.

Education experts like University of Central Florida professor and founder of charter school the Galileo School for Gifted Learning in Seminole County Michele Gill say this trend spells trouble for traditional public schools.

Gill says fewer students at these schools means less funding, and fewer resources like certified teachers and teachers aides. Orange and Lake County Schools are just two districts in Central Florida who have already announced district-wide 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. 

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 under-staffed and under-resourced 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.”

Both Governor Ron DeSantis and former Florida Commissioner of Education 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 #1 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 found school choice programs grew by about 116,000 students during the 2023-2024 school year in Florida.

Public schools of choice, including charter schools, Florida Virtual School, magnet programs and career academies, remained the most popular choice, with four out of five students opting for this option.

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 of this year, Step Up announced a record high in the number of applications for its school choice scholarships for the upcoming 2025-2026 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.

Check out the school choice scholarship enrollment data compiled by Step Up For Students by county for the school year that just wrapped up: 

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