Public schools in Florida.

Where are the best high schools in Florida?

• We are moving to the southeast part of Florida from NY with our 16 year old daughter. Even though she will be a senior, she is looking forward to the change. Where are the best high schools? I haven't a lot of positives with Florida public schools. Can you help?

• Answer:

  Florida schools are divided among county districts. You would need to first find the correct county school district, and then compare high schools within the county. One good thing about high school choices in Florida is that we have our newly implemented school choice plan. What that means is that your daughter is free to select a high school from the entire county, not in just a particular zone. Of course there's always the possibility that the school you choose will be full, making her second choice apply. My advice, research now, but the day that you arrive in Florida, go to the court house and register your domicile...and then head down to the nearest school choice office. Enroll her as a student in that county, even though school hasn't started, and have her make her school choice selection immediately. The sooner the better. She'll have more of a chance at getting in the school she wants if you don't wait until the last minute. Another thing to consider is the credits and how they will transfer when moving. For example, we lived in Indiana when my girls started high school. They needed 40 credits in Indiana to graduate. When we moved to Florida, they needed 28. The catch is that in Indiana, each class received a full credit. English One, Semester One was one credit...whereas in Florida, English One, semester one was just 1/2 credit. So in other words, my girls were behind in credits at the end of their first year simply because an equal comparison of credits needed based on Indiana's system would mean they needed 56 credits in Florida. If this is going to be an issue with your daughter, I'd inquire about whether or not any high schools in the county you're moving to has 4x4 schools....meaning they take four classes a day, each class being about 1 hr and 50 minutes long. This allows a student to receive one complete year of English in just one semester (or term is called here). The benefit of this is that she may be able to make up a credit or two because she'd actually get 8 full credits down here during her senior year, where for example in Indiana, on a 6 class per day schedule, at the end of the year, 12 credits would be issued (but equal to 6 in Florida). On a final note, she will be required to take and pass the FCAT test before she's allowed to graduate. If you will be arriving in Florida soon, I'd make sure she sat for the testing over the summer, just incase there's a chance that she will not pass it. She will be able to take it twice during her senior year too, but it's better to be safe than sorry.