Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Number of pupils increases
More options don’t hinder traditional schools
Improving school grades, aggressive marketing and a breadth of specialty programs helped South Florida’s traditional schools retain students this year amid a growing number of choices, district officials say.
In Broward and Palm Beach counties, school districts started with more students this year than last. Charter schools, on the other hand, opened with fewer students — but that may be due to some closures. Miami-Dade schools do not post early enrollment figures.
“We outperform almost every charter school around and that means a lot to parents,” said Peter Licata, assistant superintendent for Choice and Innovation in Palm Beach County.
The school choice movement gained major political support this year. A law enacted this year promotes charter school expansion and provides more funding for private school scholarships. In addition, this year marked the first time Florida school districts were required to allow students to attend schools outside their assigned boundaries or county lines.
And, as always, parents have the option of home schooling, virtual school and private school, whose enrollment numbers are not made public until spring.
Douglas Laurie, vice president of American Heritage School, said the private school has consistently attracted enough students to meet capacity and create a waiting list. About 4,500 enrolled this year between the Plantation and Delray Beach campuses.
“I was a little concerned when charter schools first came around 20-something years or so,” he said. “But we just haven’t seen any negative effect on our school. It has been good for the community.”
Palm Beach County traditional schools added about 2,900 students while charter schools lost about 940. Enrollment at the Broward school district was up by about 680 students. About 270 fewer students enrolled
at charters, which are public schools run by individuals, for-profit or nonprofit organizations.
Their numbers may be down in Broward because 10 schools closed while two new ones opened this year.
While some district schools lost students, none of them saw dips as dramatic as six charters, which lost a quarter or more of their enrollment.
Enrollment at the charter school Lauderhill High, for example, dropped in half by about 230 students this year. Meanwhile, the district school Lauderhill 6 -12 attracted about 100 more students than last year, about 80 more than staff projected. The district school with the biggest drop was Bethune Elementary, which lost 21 percent of its enrollment.
In Palm Beach County, charter declines are also partly the result of four closures. But several others lost a large number of students.
At Eagle Arts Academy charter school in Wellington, enrollment fell from 777 to 431, although its letter grade improved from a D to aC.
Vouchers for private schools have also proved popular. In South Florida, the number of voucher students jumped by about 6,670 this year compared to the last. As of June 2017, more than 37,000 students in the region were on vouchers.
Homeschooling was down slightly in South Florida: about 13,050 children in 2016 versus about 13,180 the year before. Statewide, though, the numbers are growing. A lot of parents choose it for religious reasons, or because it better fits their family needs, said Sharon Rice, member services director for the Florida Parent Educators Association.
Within district schools, parents had ample choices as schools added specialty programs, such as an aeronautical science program at Apollo Middle in Hollywood, a track for students seeking industry certifications at Coconut Creek High and a K-8 school model at Hidden Oaks Elementary in Lake Worth.
Districts are also increasing their marketing. For the first time this year, Broward ran television advertisements on local stations in addition to radio pitches and print ads about their offerings.
Palm Beach County district schools sent out more mail to parents who send their children to private or charter schools or who home school.
Licata said the district has also been able to attract more students thanks to social media.
Superintendent Robert Avossa uses it frequently, so the community knows he’s a real person rather than a figure in an office somewhere, Licata said.
“I was a little concerned when charter schools first came around 20-something years or so. But we just haven’t seen any negative effect on our school. It has been good for the community.”
Douglas Laurie, American Heritage School, vice president