Florida Public School Districts

Florida has one public school district per county, because Article IX of the state constitution says each county constitutes a school district (Florida Constitution), and the state has 67 counties (Florida Department of State).

The same section lets two or more neighboring counties merge into one district if the voters of each county approve, but the state funding formula still lists every county separately, from 1 Alachua to 67 Washington (2026-27 FEFP Second Calculation). That formula also funds a handful of entries that are not counties: the FAMU, FAU, FSU and UF lab schools, the Virtual School and TSC Charter Schools each have their own line, and Virtual School alone counts 52,579.21 K-12 unweighted full-time equivalent students in 2026-27.

Statewide, the July 16, 2026 calculation counts 3,215,929.85 unweighted full-time equivalent students, made up of 2,722,530.60 in districts and 493,399.25 funded through the Family Empowerment Scholarship (Florida Department of Education). The same report gives a weighted count of 3,437,144.48, and its base funding line multiplies weighted FTE by the $5,457.60 base student allocation and two further factors, written in the report as WFTE x BSA x CWF x SDF.

Last verified: October 19, 2026, with the July 16, 2026 FEFP Second Calculation, the Department of Education superintendent directory, Article IX of the state constitution and section 1001.35 re-read that day.

An elected school board runs each Florida district: the constitution requires five or more members, chosen in nonpartisan elections for staggered four-year terms, who operate, control and supervise all free public schools in the district (Florida Constitution, Article IX).

The board also sets the rate of school district taxes within the limits the constitution allows, and two or more districts may run and pay for joint programs (Article IX, Section 4). Florida school board members are elected at the November general election, and under section 1001.35 a member may not appear on the ballot for reelection after 8 consecutive years in office, counting only terms that began on or after November 8, 2022 (Florida Statutes s. 1001.35).

Above the 67 boards sits the State Board of Education: seven members appointed by the governor to staggered 4-year terms, confirmed by the Senate, who appoint the commissioner of education (Florida Constitution). The state board has the supervision of the public school system that state law provides, while each county board operates, controls and supervises its own schools.

Both: the Florida Constitution makes the superintendent an elected official by default, chosen every four years, but a district can switch to an appointed superintendent hired by the school board when voters approve (Florida Constitution).

The switch happens through a school board resolution or a special law approved by the district’s electors, and either one may be rescinded or repealed by the same route after four years (Article IX, Section 5). Elected superintendents are chosen at the general election in years divisible by four.

The Department of Education’s directory marks 29 Florida districts whose superintendent is appointed, and it notes that every special and lab school superintendent is appointed (FLDOE superintendent directory). The directory also lists each superintendent’s physical and mailing address, phone number and e-mail, plus each district’s main telephone number.

Florida school districts are funded mainly through the Florida Education Finance Program, which totals $30,021,158,876 in state and local money for 2026-27 in the Department of Education’s July 16, 2026 second calculation (FEFP Second Calculation).

The Florida total splits into $16,044,902,237 in state funding and $13,976,256,639 in local funding, or $9,335.14 per unweighted full-time equivalent student (FLDOE). The base student allocation is $5,457.60, and the statewide summary lists a required local effort millage of 3.057 plus 0.748 discretionary mills, 3.805 in all; the report’s district millage table shows the required local effort rate differs by district, for example 1.891 in Collier and 3.140 in Dade. Named lines include $2,650,121,971 for class size reduction, $570,872,976 for student transportation, $290,000,000 for safe schools and $180,000,000 for mental health assistance.

The figures will move during the year. Total funding in the second calculation is 0.03 percent below the earlier conference calculation, and the statewide school taxable value in it is 0.17 percent lower (FEFP Second Calculation). The Department’s Office of Funding and Financial Reporting runs these calculations, distributes the money and collects district financial reports, and it answers questions at [email protected] (FLDOE Funding and Financial Reporting).

Local property taxes supply $13,976,256,639 of Florida’s $30,021,158,876 school formula for 2026-27, against $16,044,902,237 from the state (FEFP Second Calculation).

The local share is $11,129,013,705 in required local effort, at a statewide required local effort millage of 3.057, and $2,847,242,934 from the 0.748 discretionary mills (FLDOE). Those rates apply to a statewide school taxable value of $3,965,077,619,591 in the second calculation. The calculation subtracts the required local effort from the $23,522,992,489 total FEFP to reach a gross state FEFP of $12,393,978,784, and after a $16,029 Educational Enrollment Stabilization Allocation the net state FEFP is $12,393,994,813. The constitution gives each Florida school board the power to determine the rate of district school taxes within constitutional limits (Florida Constitution).

Several state allocations follow students with particular needs or programs: $1,494,121,811 for the exceptional student education guaranteed allocation, $843,753,245 for educational enrichment and $596,771,896 for the academic acceleration options supplement (2026-27 FEFP Second Calculation). A Florida family comparing districts will find each district’s own line in the same report.

Miami-Dade, listed as Dade, counts 385,976.28 K-12 unweighted full-time equivalent students and $3,717,030,542 in K-12 total funding in the 2026-27 Florida formula, against 1,131.68 students and $11,920,007 for Liberty County (2026-27 FEFP Second Calculation).

Six of the Florida districts in the table count more than 150,000 full-time equivalent students each in the formula, while Franklin counts 1,135.17 and Liberty 1,131.68 (FLDOE). Because each county is its own district under the constitution, the five-member minimum board and the same constitutional duties apply in Liberty County as in Miami-Dade (Florida Constitution).