Choice schools sweep Florida 'Blue Ribbon' winners

This year, Florida is home to four National Blue Ribbon schools, and all of them are schools of choice.

The winners, announced today by the U.S. Department of Education, include a Miami-Dade County magnet school, two charters and one private school.

• Design and Architecture Senior High School (Miami-Dade, magnet)
• Somerset Arts Conservatory School (Broward, charter)
• Florida Collegiate School (Manatee County, charter)
• Northside Christian Elementary School (Pinellas County, private)

Northside Christian enrolls 74 students who use Florida tax credit scholarships, a school choice program that helps low-income and working-class families afford private school tuition. Step Up For Students, my employer and publisher of this blog, helps administer the scholarship program.

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes schools for "exemplary" student achievement or their success in closing gaps between disadvantaged students and their peers. The four Florida winners were all in the former category. This year, Education Secretary John King recognized 329 schools nationwide.

This is not the first time magnets and charters were over-represented among Florida's Blue Ribbon winners. The pattern certainly holds from last year and the year before.