Dive Brief:

• Fearing the loss of $50 million in funding if families continued to opt into charter and private schools, a superintendent in Florida’s Duval County proposed a plan where families could choose which public school they want to attend.  

• To be successful, the new initiative, which will be voted on April 1, requires transportation across neighborhoods.  

• School board officials are worried about the effects the open-enrollment plan will have on low-income communities if students choose to leave their neighborhood schools.  

Dive Insight:

News of Duval County’s “open-enrollment“ initiative may become more commonplace as Florida schools continue losing students to the voucher and charter systems. While an open-enrollment plan would not pose such a threat on its own, the fact that it will exist within the same framework as these competitive school models does mean low-income neighborhoods will have a far more difficult time attracting students and retaining funding.