Fort Lauderdale Public Schools: Assignment, Choice and Magnets

Fort Lauderdale addresses are served by Broward County Public Schools, and each home is zoned to one elementary, one middle and one high school, including campuses such as Fort Lauderdale High, Stranahan High and Dillard High 6-12.

The nine campuses above are a sample of district schools whose own sites give a Fort Lauderdale mailing address, from NE 14th Street (Sunrise Middle and Bennett Elementary) to NW 11th and NW 26th Streets (Dillard 6-12 and William Dandy Middle) and the 33312 and 33316 ZIP codes (Stranahan High, New River Middle and Harbordale Elementary). A school's mailing address does not decide who attends it: the district's Find My School locator assigns schools by home address and school year (Broward County Public Schools, Find My School). The official boundary maps, posted for 2026/27, show where the lines fall (BCPS boundary maps).

The Fort Lauderdale schools hub on Digital Towns covers the district as a whole; this guide covers assignment, choice and the programs at Fort Lauderdale campuses.

A family finds its assigned Fort Lauderdale schools by entering the home address and school year in the Broward County Public Schools Find My School locator, which returns the zoned elementary, middle and high school.

The district's instructions run in four steps: pick the school year from the dropdown, choosing the upcoming year when registering for the next fall; type the house number and street name with a suffix on numbered streets, such as 1st or 2nd, and no punctuation; enter the five digit ZIP; then search (BCPS, Find My School). Apartment and unit numbers are not needed. If an address returns nothing, the district suggests trying just the house number and street name without Street or Avenue, and phone users are told to switch to landscape mode.

The district asks families whose address is new or not appearing in the locator to email the Demographics and Enrollment Planning Department at [email protected] (Find My School help desk). The results show assigned schools only; a magnet, Nova or reassignment seat is a separate School Choice application.

Broward school attendance boundaries are recommended by the Superintendent and approved by the School Board, on an annual basis as conditions warrant.

The district says annual boundary meetings are held when new schools are opening or student population growth makes boundary changes necessary, and that under Florida statutes attendance areas are approved on an annual basis (Broward County Public Schools, Boundary Maps). Its Boundary Process Timeline page lists a Redefining 2025-26 timeline, archived timelines for 2024-25 and 2022-23, and states that there was no boundary process in 2023-24 (BCPS, Boundary Process Timeline).

The public can follow the process at the School Boundary Advisory Committee. The next meeting listed on Fort Lauderdale school calendars is Monday, October 26, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Nova Middle School, 3206 College Avenue, Davie (Fort Lauderdale High School calendar). Families buying or renting in Fort Lauderdale for a particular school can select the coming school year in the locator, which returns schools for the year chosen.

School Choice lets a Fort Lauderdale family apply for a school other than its zoned one, as a general reassignment, a magnet program or a Nova school, and seats go by random selection when applicants outnumber them.

Broward County Public Schools stresses that awards are not first come, first served: when there are more applicants than choice seats, a computerized random selection is held (BCPS, Get School Choice Ready). To be ready, a parent creates a Focus Parent Portal account, finds the child's BCPS student ID number, links each child to the account, and then applies when the School Choice window opens.

A child new to the district, for example a family moving to Fort Lauderdale from out of state, first needs a BCPS student ID number, which the district issues at the most conveniently located BCPS school; the parent brings a government-issued photo ID and the child's birth certificate (BCPS School Choice). One date on the page is stale: on October 18, 2026 its application link still read Apply for 2026/27, and the page gave no 2027/28 dates.

Fort Lauderdale magnet programs include Biomedical Sciences and Science and Pre-Engineering at Stranahan High, Marine Science at New River Middle, Pre-Med and Pre-Law at William Dandy Middle, and VPA and ECT/DE magnet tracks at Dillard High 6-12.

Broward defines magnet programs as theme-based pathways that draw students from outside their assigned boundary, with transportation provided within designated zones, while innovative programs are for in-boundary students (BCPS, Magnet and Innovative Programs). The district counts 40 Magnet Schools of America merit awards in 2026 and among the schools it lists with a new program for the 2026-27 school year are Stranahan High School and Bennett Elementary, whose own sites give Fort Lauderdale addresses.

School sites name their own programs. Stranahan High lists Biomedical Sciences, Science and Pre-Engineering, iCAN and Cambridge magnets and a NAF Academy (Stranahan High School); New River Middle lists iCAN Marine Science (New River Middle School); William Dandy Middle lists a Pre-Med Program and a Pre-Law Program (William Dandy Middle School); Dillard High 6-12 has ECT/DE and VPA magnet tracks and NAF Academies (Dillard High 6-12); and Fort Lauderdale High lists a Cambridge AICE Programme and a Pre-Law and Public Affairs Magnet (Fort Lauderdale High School). Because innovative programs are meant for in-boundary students, the zoned school's own offerings are worth checking before a family applies elsewhere.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, on the Broward County Public Schools locator, boundary map, boundary timeline, School Choice and magnet pages and on nine Fort Lauderdale school websites.