Series 2010-22D
May 2010
Growth of Minority Student Populations in Florida’s Public Schools, 2009-10
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 1979 to 2009, the number of minority students in Florida’s public schools grew from
464,206 to 1,467,080, an increase of 216.04 percent. This compares with an increase of 74.90 percent for the
overall student population (from 1,506,215 to 2,634,382) and a 12.02 percent increase for the white student
population (from 1,042,009 to 1,167,302) during the same period. This data is illustrated in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Comparative Growth of White and Minority Student Populations
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
White
1,500,000
Minority
1,000,000
Total
500,000
0
1979
1999
2009
School Year
Twenty-one of Florida’s 67 school districts have minority enrollments of more than 50 percent (see Table 1). Only 8
districts have experienced a decrease in their minority enrollment since 1979. 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 2009
District
Gadsden
Dade
Jefferson
Hendry
Broward
Osceola
Orange
Hardee
Madison
Palm Beach
Duval
Percent Minority
96.62%
91.12%
76.76%
73.15%
73.00%
71.49%
67.20%
64.73%
63.01%
62.83%
59.66%
District
Collier
Hillsborough
Glades
St. Lucie
Hamilton
DeSoto
Leon
Alachua
Highlands
Polk
Percent Minority
59.20%
58.63%
57.45%
57.18%
55.45%
53.98%
52.38%
52.30%
51.30%
50.40%
Florida Department of Education Eric J. Smith, Commissioner
Summaries by Racial Category
As shown in Figure 2 below, the percentage of white students in Florida’s public schools has dropped from 69.18
percent in 1979 to 44.31 percent in 2009. At the same time, the minority student representation statewide increased
from 30.82 percent to 55.69 percent.
Figure 3: Student Populations by Race (in
Thousands)
Figure 2: Demographic Shift in Florida's PK-12
Student Population, Public Schools, 1979 to 2009
White
Minority
Multi.
55.69%
44.31%
2009
Am. Ind.
1979
Asian
2009
Hispanic
69.18%
30.82%
Black
White
1979
0.00%
0
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
100.00%
Within specific racial categories, the degree of growth (or decline) in comparative representation varies. From 1979
to 2009, the greatest numerical gains occurred in the Hispanic population, which increased from 103,902 students to
692,458, representing a gain of 588,556. By contrast, the population of black students increased by 260,037 (from
348,001 in 1979 to 608,038 in 2009), while the population of white students increased by 125,293 (from 1,042,009 to
1,167,302). The population of Asian students grew from 10,446 to 67,843, and the American Indian population
increased from 1,857 to 9,143 from 1979 to 2009. There were 89,598 multiracial students in 2009. This category was
included in student demographic surveys beginning with the 1997-98 school year. 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, 2009
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
Minority
20.0%
White
10.0%
0.0%
PK
K
1
2
3
4
5
6
Grade
2
7
8
9
10
11
12
Table 2: Minority and White Student Populations, 1979 and 2009
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 DEAF/BLIND
69 DOZIER
72 FAU LAB
73 FSU CHTR
74 FAMU LAB
75 UF LAB
FLORIDA
Fall 1979 Minority and White Students
Minority #
White #
Minority
White %
7,633
13,883
35.48%
64.52%
%
628
2,789
18.38%
81.62%
3,430
16,038
17.62%
82.38%
885
2,962
23.00%
77.00%
7,579
41,033
15.59%
84.41%
35,748
99,565
26.42%
73.58%
382
1,720
18.17%
81.83%
467
6,395
6.81%
93.19%
602
7,122
7.79%
92.21%
1,331
15,453
7.93%
92.07%
3,613
10,255
26.05%
73.95%
2,023
5,374
27.35%
72.65%
144,507
79,233
64.59%
35.41%
1,005
2,716
27.01%
72.99%
292
1,355
17.73%
82.27%
37,630
64,533
36.83%
63.17%
12,639
29,750
29.82%
70.18%
416
1,251
24.96%
75.04%
330
1,471
18.32%
81.68%
7,214
1,620
81.66%
18.34%
86
1,347
6.00%
94.00%
401
650
38.15%
61.85%
529
1,844
22.29%
77.71%
1,051
1,179
47.13%
52.87%
1,094
2,859
27.68%
72.32%
1,585
2,903
35.32%
64.68%
866
5,663
13.26%
86.74%
2,014
5,308
27.51%
72.49%
28,050
83,839
25.07%
74.93%
69
3,360
2.01%
97.99%
2,189
6,673
24.70%
75.30%
2,529
5,507
31.47%
68.53%
1,466
802
64.64%
35.36%
92
851
9.76%
90.24%
3,835
13,279
22.41%
77.59%
6,032
23,214
20.63%
79.37%
7,441
14,042
34.64%
65.36%
983
2,915
25.22%
74.78%
122
866
12.35%
87.65%
1,906
1,444
56.90%
43.10%
4,084
16,047
20.29%
79.71%
6,282
15,485
28.86%
71.14%
1,802
7,086
20.27%
79.73%
1,867
5,816
24.30%
75.70%
1,329
6,296
17.43%
82.57%
3,458
21,318
13.96%
86.04%
645
3,751
14.67%
85.33%
22,084
60,151
26.85%
73.15%
1,113
7,427
13.03%
86.97%
25,287
45,676
35.63%
64.37%
1,607
23,275
6.46%
93.54%
15,816
72,572
17.89%
82.11%
13,713
45,199
23.28%
76.72%
2,906
6,828
29.85%
70.15%
1,929
6,149
23.88%
76.12%
6,011
7,893
43.23%
56.77%
853
11,478
6.92%
93.08%
3,272
20,861
13.56%
86.44%
5,973
29,737
16.73%
83.27%
1,276
3,196
28.53%
71.47%
1,115
3,654
23.38%
76.62%
903
2,471
26.76%
73.24%
300
1,089
21.60%
78.40%
8,031
27,968
22.31%
77.69%
581
2,004
22.48%
77.52%
529
3,193
14.21%
85.79%
746
2,326
24.28%
75.72%
464,206
1,042,009
30.82%
Fall 2009 Minority and White Students*
Minority #
White #
Minority
White %
14,516
13,241
52.30%
47.70%
%
873
4,177
17.29%
82.71%
6,818
19,075
26.33%
73.67%
967
2,308
29.53%
70.47%
22,907
49,495
31.64%
68.36%
186,999
69,176
73.00%
27.00%
457
1,776
20.47%
79.53%
4,239
12,696
25.03%
74.97%
2,879
13,204
17.90%
82.10%
10,148
25,850
28.19%
71.81%
25,287
17,427
59.20%
40.80%
3,105
6,991
30.75%
69.25%
315,061
30,705
91.12%
8.88%
2,693
2,296
53.98%
46.02%
287
1,823
13.60%
86.40%
73,173
49,476
59.66%
40.34%
19,267
21,343
47.44%
52.56%
4,769
8,369
36.30%
63.70%
212
1,083
16.37%
83.63%
6,117
214
96.62%
3.38%
272
2,465
9.94%
90.06%
821
608
57.45%
42.55%
371
1,660
18.27%
81.73%
1,008
810
55.45%
44.55%
3,257
1,775
64.73%
35.27%
5,049
1,853
73.15%
26.85%
6,160
16,733
26.91%
73.09%
6,228
5,913
51.30%
48.70%
113,290
79,949
58.63%
41.37%
228
3,154
6.74%
93.26%
6,957
10,793
39.19%
60.81%
2,779
4,558
37.88%
62.12%
915
277
76.76%
23.24%
345
818
29.66%
70.34%
16,584
24,515
40.35%
59.65%
40,175
40,295
49.93%
50.07%
17,131
15,577
52.38%
47.62%
1,534
4,395
25.87%
74.13%
343
1,154
22.91%
77.09%
1,724
1,012
63.01%
36.99%
19,805
23,117
46.14%
53.86%
17,179
24,861
40.86%
59.14%
5,961
12,063
33.07%
66.93%
3,660
4,618
44.21%
55.79%
1,615
9,501
14.53%
85.47%
8,076
20,811
27.96%
72.04%
3,107
3,856
44.62%
55.38%
116,262
56,759
67.20%
32.80%
37,277
14,865
71.49%
28.51%
108,719
64,306
62.83%
37.17%
19,430
47,713
28.94%
71.06%
39,951
65,225
37.98%
62.02%
47,664
46,913
50.40%
49.60%
4,757
6,661
41.66%
58.34%
5,149
24,673
17.27%
82.73%
22,259
16,671
57.18%
42.82%
4,259
21,408
16.59%
83.41%
12,235
29,046
29.64%
70.36%
27,634
36,826
42.87%
57.13%
2,322
5,232
30.74%
69.26%
1,625
4,504
26.51%
73.49%
973
2,206
30.61%
69.39%
556
1,783
23.77%
76.23%
23,919
38,410
38.38%
61.62%
830
4,414
15.83%
84.17%
1,254
5,860
17.63%
82.37%
827
2,659
23.72%
76.28%
319
322
49.77%
50.23%
263
77
77.35%
22.65%
1,010
1,103
47.80%
52.20%
1,120
1,235
47.56%
52.44%
544
0
100.00%
0.00%
574
565
50.40%
49.60%
1,467,080
1,167,302
55.69%
44.31%
69.18%
% Change in Minority
16.82%
-1.09%
8.71%
6.52%
16.05%
46.58%
2.29%
18.23%
10.11%
20.26%
33.15%
3.41%
26.53%
26.97%
-4.13%
22.83%
17.63%
11.34%
-1.95%
14.96%
3.94%
19.30%
-4.03%
8.32%
37.05%
37.84%
13.64%
23.79%
33.56%
4.73%
14.49%
6.41%
12.12%
19.91%
17.94%
29.30%
17.74%
0.65%
10.56%
6.12%
25.85%
12.00%
12.80%
19.91%
-2.90%
14.00%
29.95%
40.34%
58.46%
27.20%
22.48%
20.09%
27.12%
11.81%
-6.61%
13.94%
9.68%
16.08%
26.14%
2.21%
3.13%
3.84%
2.17%
16.07%
-6.65%
3.41%
-0.56%
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
24.87%
*Survey 2 data as of November 26, 2009
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