Despite a rise in costs to live in Miami-Dade, public school enrollment is up
MIAMI - New numbers for Miami-Dade County Public Schools enrollment are now in and it's up, despite concerns that the rising cost of living has pushed families away.
"We have seen students come to Miami-Dade County Public Schools from every single state in the nation, except for Montana."
Miami-Dade Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Ron Steiger is slightly surprised the numbers seem to buck the trend of people moving away because of costs. So far, 2,100 students added to enrollment.
"You know, the rising cost of housing and the South Florida market, which is really expensive to live in for young families. It's pretty incredible that we're seeing growth in district schools, charter schools, and private schools," Steiger explained.
This school year's enrollment is currently 328,000. Up until last year, it had been on the decline since 2016-2017.
"And with the expansion of scholarship programs and young families moving out of Miami-Dade, we started to see a decrease," he said.
But it's not just the families relocating, there's also been an influx of immigrant students.
"We had 20,000 students last year come to us from countries that were not the United States. So this is their first year in the United States. They came to Miami-Dade County Public Schools. This year, that number, the trend is actually right on pace to be slightly higher," Steiger said.
Now it's not all evenly distributed. Some areas may see more kids.
"So Doral over the last 20 years has exploded. Right. And oftentimes, you'll see charter schools, who have a little bit less regulation, move there first because they're able to respond more quickly," Steiger told CBS News Miami.
Of course, the question many are asking is, how did the vouchers impact enrollment?
"The scholarships are funding kids who have always gone to private schools and are now going with the scholarship to the same schools they always were," Steiger said.
He estimates the number of kids in private schools jumped 13,000 from 24,000 up to 37,000.
"As the state adds additional funding for 13,000 new kids, that doesn't come off the backs of the other students whose education has already been paid for by the public," Steiger added.
But that could change, and the district knows it, so it's stepping up efforts to recruit students, something it's not traditionally done.
"We are able to prove with data that it is. And because of that, we're confident that moves to Miami-Dade that we know we don't serve them best," Steiger concluded.
Another set of numbers will be coming out from the state in October, what it calls its full-time equivalent numbers, however, Steiger doesn't expect any surprises. He explained current data used to project numbers should keep figures relatively similar. And there's no worry yet about overcrowding. At its peak, MDCPS served 360,000 students.
"Whether you're a student who loves sports, whether you love medicine, we have more career academies than any of our competition," Steiger added.