More families embracing school choice

Public schools may be starting to achieve a long-desired goal: They are luring back students from private and charter schools.

The numbers are still small, and officials say it’s too soon to call it a trend.

But parents seem to be embracing a new state law that allows them to choose any public school for their child, as long as it has room.

• Broward schools received 11,602 applications from students interested in reassignment to one of 170 schools that had space, up from 8,409 the previous year, a 38 percent increase, even though school district enrollment remained about the same as the previous year.

Applications from charter school students increased to 3,485, up from 3,088.

The rest of the applications include those from students already in the public school system or from private schools, or from students who’ve recently moved into the county.

• In its first lottery under the new law, Palm Beach County schools received 4,505 applications. About 500 of these came from private and charter school students.

“We are seeing a significant jump in people wanting to come back into the school district,” said Patrick Sipple, Broward’s director of demographics and student assignments. “It may be too early to call it a trend. But there has been more interest because of the new law.”

Public schools have faced competition from charters in recent years and lose money when students make the switch.

The rise of charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run, has pressed public schools to market their strengths and get creative as they try to lure students into a growing assortment of programs targeted to their interests.

Parents have been able to choose schools in Florida for several decades through an assortment of magnet and choice programs in their counties, and Broward schools allowed students to apply to any school even before the law was passed.

For many of these programs, students had to be admitted through a lottery or pass an audition.

As part of the new law, schools must admit students if they have room no matter which county they come from.

In Broward, applications multiplied in every school choice category.

Broward magnet school applications, for programs such as science and technology, performing arts and entrepreneurship, grew from 11,209 in 2015-16 to 12,190 last year. And applications to the Nova schools, four highly rated schools that have no boundaries, increased to 10,419, up from 9,587.

"We are interested in allowing families to stay in the public school system,” said Leslie Brown, the district’s chief portfolio services officer. “We’re offering a lot of opportunities that are not one-size-fitsall.”

In Palm Beach County, most applicants to the 79 schools that had space got their first-choice school, said Pete Licata, director of choice and career options.

Lucia Segal, of Delray Beach, decided to move her two daughters from the private Unity School to a public magnet school, Bak Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach.

The girls were accepted to the theater and visual arts programs after they applied and auditioned.

Segal said she had rejected public schools years ago as “really bad” and chose Unity for its convenience and excellent teachers.

Two visits to Bak, though, showed her its program — which combines arts education with rigorous academics — was unmatched by the private schools she is familiar with.

“If your child gets accepted to Bak, it’s like you win the lottery,” Segal said. “Bak has a program that no private school offers.”

Another part of the new law allows families to select a school in a different county for their children’s education, and a small number of parents chose this new option. Forty-five students are crossing into Palm Beach County, including 20 from Broward. In Broward, 206 students will cross the county line from Miami-Dade and Palm Beach, while none applied to move from another county into MiamiDade.

Several Palm Beach County schools are now filled to capacity through the open enrollment process, including Sandpiper Shores Elementary in West Boca and Addison Mizner Elementary in Boca Raton.

Addison Mizner had room for 10 more students but will get 18, because several of the accepted students had siblings they are allowed to bring along.

Students are coming from not only Boca Raton but Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and private schools, Principal Kelly Mills Burke said.

Crystal Lakes Elementary in Boynton Beach had room for 78 students but will get 44, including two from Broward, Principal Diane Curcio-Greaves said.

She said a school staffer has called each family to help them make a personal connection to the massive school system.

“Parents have many choices now,” she said.

“I wanted to welcome them and help them understand the registration process.”

Palm Beach and MiamiDade counties are no longer accepting applications; Broward will accept applications through the fall.