Family Financial Resources, Scholarships, School Choice, Private Schools, Family Income, Elementary Secondary Education, Student Mobility, Student Characteristics, Demography, Transfer Students, Withdrawal (Education)

The Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES) Program, signed into law on May 9, 2019 (1002.394, F.S.), was established to provide children of Florida's families with financial assistance to attend an eligible private school of their choosing with funding equal to 100% of a given school district's average cost per student. Eligibility is limited to students whose families have annual household incomes of up to 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL), which equates to over 125% of the average median income (Miami-Dade Economic Advisory Trust, 2021). The purpose of this report is twofold: (a) to examine the movement of students between the District's schools and the FES from October 2019 through October 2022 and (b) to explore the demographic characteristics of participating students. The population for this study consisted of students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) who participated in the FES from August 2016-17 to October 2022-23. The sample consisted of four groups of FES participants: (a) students who did not previously attend a location in M-DCPS, (b) students whose prior school indicated participation in the FES, (c) students whose prior school was a location in M-DCPS, and (d) students assigned to any non-FES location in M-DCPS whose prior school also indicated participation in the FES.