This document provides information on education in Florida. It discusses that Florida has 67 counties each with their own school district. It also notes that Florida was an early adopter of education reforms between 1976-1984 and has continued to implement reforms like charter schools and school choice policies. The document also summarizes that Florida has a growing teacher shortage exacerbated by education initiatives and that the state allows alternative teacher certification programs to address this.

1. Statistics Finland.“Educational Structure of Population.”
http://www.stat.fi/til/vkour/2010/vkour_2010_2011
-12-02_tie_001_en.html (Accessed December 2011).
Valijarvi, Jouni, et al. The Finnish Success in PISA – And
Some Reasons Behind It: PISA 2000. Jyvaskyla, Finland:
University of Jyvaskyla Institute for Educational
Research.
Florida
Florida is the 22nd-largest state in the nation, with a
total area of 58,560 square miles. The state of Florida
is a peninsula bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the
east and the Gulf of Mexico to the west. Approxi-
mately 54,136 square miles of Florida’s total area is
land, while water comprises 4,424 square miles.
The capital of Florida is located in Tallahassee. The
executive branch of the government comprises the
governor and cabinet consisting of the attorney gen-
eral, chief financial officer, and commissioner of agri-
culture. While the state has a 6 percent sales tax, there
is no state income tax in Florida. The state legislature
consists of 120 House districts,and 40 Senate districts.
Prior to the 2012 redistricting process, Florida had
25 congressional districts. The state is likely to gain
two congressional districts because of reapportion-
ment. According to the 2010 census, Florida’s popu-
lation is 18,801,310. A total of 4,002,091 of Florida’s
residents are under the age of 18, and 4,223,806 of
Florida’s residents identify as Hispanic or Latino. The
demographic composition of Florida by race speaks
to the relative diverse population of the state, with
14,109,162 identifying as white; 2,999,862 as African
American; and 454,821 as Asian. Over 1 million of
the remaining 1,237,465 residents identify as “other”
or indicate that two or more census categories would
best characterize their racial identity.
While Florida has been inhabited by humans for
over 12,000 years, the first permanent European
settlement was established by Spain in 1565, on the
east coast of the state in what is now St. Augustine.
The United States acquired Florida as a territory from
Spain in 1821. Florida was admitted to the United
States as the 27th state in 1845. In Florida, education
reform efforts have historically outpaced national
trends. Between 1976 and 1984, the Florida legislature
initiated more educational reform than the legislative
body of any other state. By 1984, Florida had enacted
laws in 16 of the 20 categories recorded in A Nation at
Risk. Additional legislation enacted during these years
implemented performance-based provisions for cer-
tification and evaluation of teachers and principals,
as well as an individual-level merit pay mandate and a
school-level merit pay mandate. Since the 1980s, Flor-
ida has continued to lead the nation in several areas of
education reform. In the area of school governance,
Florida has implemented deregulatory strategies that
allow some schools to become charter schools that,
via a waiver process, can request exemption from
some aspects of state control. In Florida, charter
schools, along with the more controversial voucher
system, form part of the larger school choice policy
framework. While the state has implemented deregu-
latory strategies, it has also increased the emphasis on
performance-based formulas for funding. Such pro-
grams as the 1999 Florida A+ Plan allowed Florida
policymakers to link school choice and performance-
based accountability within the same plan. Florida’s
A+ Plan, in this instance, predated the federal No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which also combined
choice and accountability.
Florida has 67 counties.Each county has one school
district. In Florida, school superintendents may be
Florida 287
Table 1 Elementary and secondary education characteristics
Table 2 Elementary and secondary education finance
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), 2010–11.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), “National
Public Education Financial Survey,” FY08 (2007–08).
Florida U.S. (average)
Total number of schools 4,289 1,988
Total students 2,643,347 970,278
Total teachers 175,609.29 60,766.56
Pupil/teacher ratio 15.05 15.97
Florida U.S. (average)
Total revenues $29,321,189,042 $11,464,385,994
Total expenditures
for education $31,518,715,453 $11,712,033,839
Total current
expenditures $24,224,113,873 $9,938,906,259
Copyright © 2013 SAGE Publications. Not for sale, reproduction, or distribution.

2. elected or appointed. Development research schools
operate outside of the county district structure while
still within the governance of the state Department of
Education. The charter school movement has flour-
ished in Florida, subsequent to the success of the
choice initiatives promoted in the 1990s. Students
in Florida may also use vouchers to attend private
schools. Florida has taken steps to increase virtual
education options for K–12 students. Florida recently
instituted a voluntary pre-kindergarten program in
an effort to address school readiness and improve lit-
eracy across the state.
In Florida, voter referendums in the form of con-
stitutional amendments have represented one recent
strategy for implementing reforms in education pol-
icy. In 2002, for example, two education policy ini-
tiatives were presented to the Florida electorate as
referendums. One referendum allowed Floridians to
pass a constitutional amendment that would require
the state to institute universal pre-kindergarten edu-
cation. Revenue shortfalls in Florida have impacted
education policy. For example, the legislative man-
date to establish universal pre-kindergarten programs
evolved into the implementation of the more fiscally
conservative voluntary pre-kindergarten program.
On the same ballot, in 2002, Florida voters approved a
constitutional amendment to limit class size. To date,
economic issues have plagued the implementation
of the class size law. Floridians once again addressed
class size via ballot referendum in 2010. The will of
the people to uphold class size restrictions has created
a legal and logistical bind for local school districts that
are obligated to follow state law while struggling to
balance limited budgets. Policy initiatives, such as the
universal pre-kindergarten program and the class size
amendment, have exacerbated the ongoing teacher
shortage in the state. Florida, in response to the com-
bined impetus of the growing teacher shortage and
the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act of
2001 (NCLB), began to allow school districts to offer a
alternative professional preparation and certification
programs to bring new teachers into the profession.
Rachel Sutz Pienta
Valdosta State University
See Also: Charter Schools; Nation at Risk, A; No Child
Left Behind; On-Line Education; School Choice; School
Size/Class Size; Teacher Recruitment, Induction, and
Retention; Voucher Programs.
Further Readings
Brewer, T. M.“The ‘Grand Paradox’ in Teacher Preparation
and Certification Policy.” Arts Education Policy Review,
v.104/6 (2003).
Chapman, L. H.“No Child Left Behind in Art?” Art
Education, v.58/1 (2005).
Cohen-Vogel, L.“Integrating Accountability With Choice:
Implications for School Governance.” Peabody Journal
of Education, v.78/4 (2003).
Herrington, C. D. and V. Weider.“Equity, Adequacy
and Vouchers: Past and Present School Finance
Litigation in Florida.” Journal of Education Finance,
v.27/1 (2001).
Watlington, E. J.“Variables Associated With Teacher
Retention: A Multi-Year Study.” Teacher Educator,
v.40/1 (2004).
For-Profit Education
For-profit education is the fastest growing sector
of U.S. postsecondary education today. The sector
includes some smaller, privately owned colleges, as
well as larger institutions owned by publicly traded
corporations. For-profit institutions are similar to
public and private nonprofit colleges and universi-
ties with respect to degree offerings, but in contrast to
these traditional institutions of higher education, for-
profit institutions provide an education while seeking
to make a profit for their stockholders and investors.
Enrollment in for-profit institutions has increased
rapidly since the 1990s, and these colleges and uni-
versities award a substantial number of postsecondary
certificates and degrees. At the same time, the sector
has come under scrutiny for some of its marketing
strategies, recruitment practices, and the high rate of
loan default among its students.
For-profit education has been around for some
time, but traditionally, for-profit institutions were
small, local, independently owned colleges, focused
mainly on vocational certificate programs in fields
such as cosmetology, medical assistance, and truck
driving. During the 1990s, the sector expanded rap-
idly, and publicly traded companies began operating
institutions that enrolled large numbers of students.
In 1990, there were 322 for-profit institutions that
enrolled 213,693 students. By 2000, the sector had
grown to 724 institutions, and enrollment had more
288 For-Profit Education
Copyright © 2013 SAGE Publications. Not for sale, reproduction, or distribution.