Series 2012-19D April 2012
Introduction
During the last thirty years , minority student populations have grown substantially in Florida’s public schools.
Beginning with the school year 2003-04, enrollment for minority students exceeded the white student enrollment.
This continued growth has been accompanied by shifts in the demographic composition of the most densely populated counties in south Florida, along with continuing growth in minority student populations in other urban areas of the state. From 1981 to 2011 , the number of minority students in Florida’s public schools grew from
482,028 to 1,536,112, an increase of 218.68 percent. This compares with an increase of 79.58 percent for the overall student population (from 1,485,593 to 2,667,830) and a 12.77 percent increase for the white student population (from 1,003,565 to 1,131,718) during the same period. This data is illustrated in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Comparative Growth of White and Minority Student Populations
Twenty-three of Florida’s 67 school districts have minority enrollments of more than 50 percent (see Table 1). Only 5 districts have experienced a decrease in their minority enrollment since 1981. Additional information for each of the state’s school districts is provided in Table 2.
Table 1: Districts with Greater than 50 Percent Minority Enrollment, Fall 2011
District
Gadsden
Dade
Jefferson
Hendry
Broward
Osceola
Orange
Hardee
Palm Beach
Madison
Hillsborough
Glades
Percent Minority
96.32%
91.69%
75.61%
75.11%
74.27%
72.19%
68.66%
67.22%
64.14%
62.46%
61.47%
60.85%
District
Duval
Collier
St. Lucie
Hamilton
DeSoto
Polk
Leon
Alachua
Lee
Highlands
Escambia
Percent Minority
60.81%
60.77%
60.53%
55.89%
55.50%
53.94%
53.44%
53.24%
52.37%
52.23%
50.30%
Florida Department of Education Gerard Robinson, Commissioner

Summaries by Racial Category
As shown in Figure 2 below, the percentage of white students in Florida’s public schools has dropped from 67.55 percent in 1981 to 42.42 percent in 2011. At the same time, the minority student representation statewide increased from 32.45 percent to 57.58 percent.
Figure 2: Demographic Shift in Florida's PK-12
Student Population, Public Schools, 1981 to 2011
Figure 3: Student Populations by Race or
Ethnicity (in Thousands)
Within specific racial and ethnic categories, the degree of growth (or decline) in comparative representation varies.
From 1981 to 2011, the greatest numerical gains occurred in the Hispanic population, which increased from 120,467 students to 762,781, representing a gain of 642,314. By contrast, the population of black students increased by
265,436 (from 346,956 in 1981 to 612,392 in 2011), while the population of white students increased by 128,153
(from 1,003,565 to 1,131,718). The population of Asian students grew from 12,742 to 67,763, and the American
Indian population increased from 1,863 to 9,898 from 1981 to 2011. There were 80,273 students of two or more races and 3,005 students identifying as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander in 2011-12. These categories were included in student demographic surveys beginning with the 1997-98 and 2010-11 school years, respectively.
Further, in keeping with federal requirements, racial and ethnic categories were adjusted to include the following categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
(“HI/Pac. Islander” in Figure 3), American Indian or Alaska Native, and Two or More Races (“Multi.” in Figure 3).
Thus, comparisons between current student enrollments and those from past decades will not match as neatly as they have in more recent years. Please see our Membership in Florida’s Public Schools, Fall 2011 data report for more information about this change ( http://www.fldoe.org/eias/eiaspubs/word/pk12mbrshp1112.doc
). Growth for the period is illustrated in Figure 3 above for the major racial categories.
Grade Level Summaries
Minority enrollment versus white enrollment by grade is displayed in Figure 4 below. As the graph depicts, minority enrollment now exceeds white enrollment for all grade levels.
Figure 4: Minority Enrollment Versus White Enrollment by Grade, 2011
2

Table 2: Minority and White Student Populations, 1981 and 2011
DISTRICT
01 ALACHUA
02 BAKER
03 BAY
04 BRADFORD
05 BREVARD
06 BROWARD
07 CALHOUN
08 CHARLOTTE
09 CITRUS
10 CLAY
11 COLLIER
12 COLUMBIA
13 DADE
14 DESOTO
15 DIXIE
16 DUVAL
17 ESCAMBIA
18 FLAGLER
19 FRANKLIN
20 GADSDEN
21 GILCHRIST
22 GLADES
23 GULF
24 HAMILTON
25 HARDEE
26 HENDRY
27 HERNANDO
28 HIGHLANDS
29 HILLSBOROUGH
30 HOLMES
31 INDIAN RIVER
32 JACKSON
33 JEFFERSON
34 LAFAYETTE
35 LAKE
36 LEE
37 LEON
38 LEVY
39 LIBERTY
40 MADISON
41 MANATEE
42 MARION
43 MARTIN
44 MONROE
45 NASSAU
46 OKALOOSA
47 OKEECHOBEE
48 ORANGE
49 OSCEOLA
50 PALM BEACH
51 PASCO
52 PINELLAS
53 POLK
54 PUTNAM
55 ST. JOHNS
56 ST. LUCIE
57 SANTA ROSA
58 SARASOTA
59 SEMINOLE
60 SUMTER
61 SUWANNEE
62 TAYLOR
63 UNION
64 VOLUSIA
65 WAKULLA
66 WALTON
67 WASHINGTON
68 WASH. SPECIAL
69 DOZIER
71 FL VIRTUAL
72 FAU LAB
73 FSU CHTR
74 FAMU LAB
75 UF LAB
FLORIDA
Fall 1981 Minority and White Students
Minority # White # Minority % White %
Fall 2011 Minority and White Students*
Minority # White # Minority % White %
7,584
623
13,965
2,816
35.2%
18.1%
64.8%
81.9%
14,606
847
12,827
4,203
53.2%
16.8%
46.8%
83.2%
3,654
856
7,416
37,838
339
15,861
3,023
37,775
89,799
1,597
18.7%
22.1%
16.4%
29.6%
17.5%
81.3%
77.9%
83.6%
70.4%
82.5%
7,017
1,000
25,800
191,945
536
19,328
2,354
45,986
66,509
1,689
26.6%
29.8%
35.9%
74.3%
24.1%
73.4%
70.2%
64.1%
25.7%
75.9%
502
589
1,393
3,720
1,971
157,037
1,022
224
37,776
12,233
469
334
6,978
80
307
592
1,068
1,267
1,779
911
6,551
7,700
15,381
10,334
5,183
67,310
2,608
1,390
61,175
28,378
1,493
1,421
1,516
1,390
607
1,726
1,218
2,855
2,863
6,548
7.1%
7.1%
8.3%
26.5%
27.6%
70.0%
28.2%
13.9%
38.2%
30.1%
23.9%
19.0%
82.2%
5.4%
33.6%
25.5%
46.7%
30.7%
38.3%
12.2%
92.9%
92.9%
91.7%
73.5%
72.4%
30.0%
71.8%
86.1%
61.8%
69.9%
76.1%
81.0%
17.8%
94.6%
66.4%
74.5%
53.3%
69.3%
61.7%
87.8%
4,346
2,758
10,674
26,280
3,132
321,135
2,625
306
76,300
20,371
4,634
257
5,940
304
914
400
935
3,372
5,120
6,274
12,067
12,780
24,985
16,967
6,630
29,092
2,105
1,746
49,164
20,124
8,373
1,089
227
2,346
588
1,554
738
1,644
1,697
16,338
26.5%
17.8%
29.9%
60.8%
32.1%
91.7%
55.5%
14.9%
60.8%
50.3%
35.6%
19.1%
96.3%
11.5%
60.9%
20.5%
55.9%
67.2%
75.1%
27.7%
73.5%
82.2%
70.1%
39.2%
67.9%
8.3%
44.5%
85.1%
39.2%
49.7%
64.4%
80.9%
3.7%
88.5%
39.1%
79.5%
44.1%
32.8%
24.9%
72.3%
1,920
28,429
83
2,166
2,371
1,369
87
3,672
6,470
7,865
918
98
1,839
4,293
6,162
1,736
1,990
1,257
3,412
813
23,029
1,235
25,852
1,765
16,040
13,744
3,030
1,855
6,077
793
3,280
6,410
1,219
1,139
829
276
7,987
539
551
866
482,028
5,213
81,457
3,291
6,960
5,213
750
892
13,102
23,949
14,064
3,143
811
1,454
16,530
16,454
7,486
5,532
6,143
19,851
3,808
56,241
8,219
43,926
24,367
69,271
43,997
6,950
6,408
8,213
11,080
20,221
29,974
3,127
3,595
2,492
1,111
28,102
1,913
3,207
2,565
1,003,565
26.9%
25.9%
2.5%
23.7%
31.3%
64.6%
8.9%
21.9%
21.3%
35.9%
22.6%
10.8%
55.8%
20.6%
27.2%
18.8%
26.5%
17.0%
14.7%
17.6%
29.1%
13.1%
37.0%
6.8%
18.8%
23.8%
30.4%
22.4%
42.5%
6.7%
14.0%
17.6%
28.0%
24.1%
25.0%
19.9%
22.1%
22.0%
14.7%
25.2%
32.4%
73.1%
74.1%
97.5%
76.3%
68.7%
35.4%
91.1%
78.1%
78.7%
64.1%
77.4%
89.2%
44.2%
79.4%
72.8%
81.2%
73.5%
83.0%
85.3%
82.4%
70.9%
86.9%
63.0%
93.2%
81.2%
76.2%
69.6%
77.6%
57.5%
93.3%
86.0%
82.4%
72.0%
75.9%
75.0%
80.1%
77.9%
78.0%
85.3%
74.8%
6,267
121,094
312
7,304
2,716
778
345
17,319
43,935
17,752
1,532
320
1,637
21,559
18,785
6,667
3,955
1,903
8,796
3,104
123,576
39,542
113,456
21,600
42,326
51,801
4,935
6,097
23,860
5,135
13,628
28,257
2,402
1,982
923
511
23,735
932
1,639
842
295
98
910
1,208
1,373
532
609
67.6% 1,536,112
5,731
75,907
3,019
10,658
4,334
251
827
23,996
39,961
15,466
4,191
1,161
984
23,428
23,499
11,701
4,493
9,212
20,588
3,464
56,413
15,234
63,445
45,057
61,379
44,233
6,207
25,488
15,557
20,704
27,448
36,078
5,384
4,078
2,123
1,744
37,789
4,192
5,935
2,604
281
18
1,818
934
1,005
4
545
1,131,718
52.2%
61.5%
9.4%
40.7%
38.5%
75.6%
29.4%
41.9%
52.4%
53.4%
26.8%
21.6%
62.5%
47.9%
44.4%
36.3%
46.8%
17.1%
29.9%
47.3%
68.7%
72.2%
64.1%
32.4%
40.8%
53.9%
44.3%
19.3%
60.5%
19.9%
33.2%
43.9%
30.9%
32.7%
30.3%
22.7%
38.6%
18.2%
21.6%
24.4%
51.2%
84.5%
33.4%
53.9%
57.1%
99.4%
52.5%
57.0%
82.9%
70.1%
52.7%
31.3%
27.8%
35.9%
67.6%
59.2%
46.1%
55.7%
80.7%
39.5%
80.1%
66.8%
56.1%
69.1%
67.3%
47.8%
38.5%
90.6%
59.3%
61.5%
24.4%
70.6%
58.1%
47.6%
46.6%
73.2%
78.4%
37.5%
52.1%
55.6%
63.7%
53.2%
69.7%
77.3%
61.4%
81.8%
78.4%
75.6%
48.8%
15.5%
66.6%
46.1%
42.9%
0.6%
47.5%
43.0%
Difference in
-3.1%
18.0%
13.2%
19.2%
26.3%
2.8%
8.6%
5.3%
2.8%
16.4%
-3.8%
7.0%
-0.8%
20.0%
31.1%
17.6%
4.2%
10.8%
6.6%
27.3%
17.2%
17.5%
20.4%
0.1%
15.3%
29.7%
39.6%
59.1%
27.1%
25.7%
22.0%
30.1%
13.9%
Minority %
18.0%
-1.3%
7.9%
7.7%
19.5%
44.6%
6.6%
19.4%
10.6%
21.6%
34.3%
4.5%
21.7%
27.3%
1.0%
22.6%
20.2%
11.7%
0.1%
14.2%
6.0%
27.3%
-5.1%
9.2%
36.5%
36.8%
15.5%
25.3%
35.6%
6.9%
16.9%
7.3%
11.0%
20.6%
24.5%
*Survey 2 data as of November 23, 2011
As a service to Florida school districts, each Data Report presents information on education topics of current interest. Each report is prepared by Education Information and Accountability Services,
852 Turlington Bldg., 325 W. Gaines Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0400. For further information, call (850) 245-0400 or visit our web address at http://www.fldoe.org/eias .
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