Three decades ago, dozens of Black families in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami enrolled their children in Florida’s first charter school. They didn’t know it, but they were kickstarting the most dramatic, statewide, educational shift for Black students in America.
Today, 140,000+ Black students in Florida are being educated outside district schools. They’re either in charter schools, in private schools using state choice scholarships, or outside full-time schools entirely using education savings accounts.
More details on this overlooked migration can be found in a new brief co-authored by Black Minds Matter founder Denisha Allen and myself. It’s a quick update to our 2021 report, “Controlling the Narrative: Parental Choice, Black Empowerment & Lessons from Florida.”
Over the past decade, the number of Black students in Florida enrolled in non-district options grew 86%, to 142,384. That’s more than one in five Black students in the state. For context, 31 states have fewer Black students in their public schools than Florida has in these options.
The numbers are a strong rebuttal to those who claim choice is aimed at helping wealthy, white families.
They’re also a good indicator of what’s next.
As choice programs continue to expand across America, look for even more Black families, educators and communities to embrace them.
