School Choice and Magnet Programs in Melbourne

School choice in Melbourne is the set of Brevard Public Schools applications that let a family request a school or program other than its zoned campus.

Two application types do most of the work. A Melbourne school's own notice, from Sabal Elementary on North Wickham Road, defines the Education Location Option, or ELO, as the option to attend a school other than the zoned school based on residence, and Melbourne campuses including Melbourne High link a combined Education Location and Educational Program (ELO/EPO) page. The Educational Program option covers seats in a named program rather than a location.

Several of the county's best known choice options sit inside Melbourne city limits. West Shore Jr/Sr High on Wildcat Alley posts lottery application information for choice school applicants. Stone Magnet Middle on East University Boulevard is a district magnet. Melbourne High on Bulldog Avenue hosts an International Baccalaureate World School, and Eau Gallie High on Commodore Boulevard lists AICE/Cambridge and academy programs. Applications at these Brevard campuses run through the Focus parent portal, which Sabal Elementary and West Shore both name in their instructions.

Grades and enrollment in the table come from the NCES school search for West Shore and Stone, and the 2026 grades from the Florida Department of Education file rows for West Shore, Stone Magnet Middle, Melbourne Senior High, Eau Gallie High and Sabal Elementary, dated as of September 1, 2026.

An ELO asks for a different Brevard school location, while an EPO asks for a seat in a specific program at a Melbourne or other Brevard campus.

A Melbourne school's own notice shows how an ELO works in practice. Sabal Elementary posted on April 9, 2025 that the ELO process is lottery based, with an ongoing waitlist during the school year, and that there is no fee. Applicants must be current Florida residents and upload two proofs of residency, from Tier 1 and Tier 2, to Focus before applying, and a behavior, academic and attendance contract is completed by the parent through a series of Agree questions in Focus. For 2025-2026, the elementary window opened April 4, 2025, at 8 a.m. and closed May 2, 2025, at 5 p.m., and parents could apply for up to 5 schools. That window has passed, and the Sabal notice gives no dates for later school years.

EPO seats are for programs rather than locations. At Stone Magnet Middle in Melbourne the school site links separate applications for its AVID and Science Research programs, and Eau Gallie High keeps a School Choice Applications menu with a School Choice Timeline, directions for applying to a choice school, renewal, Just Moved and For Sports Only directions, and a list of choice programs available to students zoned for Eau Gallie.

State law sits behind the ELO option. Florida Statute 1002.31 defines controlled open enrollment as a system that lets districts make assignments using parents' indicated preferential educational choice as a significant factor, and requires Brevard and every other district to update capacity determinations by grade level every 12 weeks and identify them on its website.

Florida law, not individual Melbourne schools, sets the groups that get preference in Brevard's controlled open enrollment.

Florida Statute 1002.31 requires each district school board, including Brevard's, to give preferential treatment to dependent children of active duty military personnel whose move resulted from military orders, children relocated by a foster care placement in a different school zone, children who move because of a court-ordered change in custody, and students residing in the school district. The statute adds that students residing in the district may not be displaced by a student from another district seeking enrollment.

The same statute lets a parent from any Florida district enroll and transport a child to any public school that has not reached capacity, subject to maximum class size, and states that a school district may provide transportation to these students. Districts must also provide information on transportation options, so the Brevard rules on busing for Melbourne choice students come from the district rather than from the statute itself.

West Shore Jr/Sr High in Melbourne is a Brevard choice school that fills its seats through a lottery application.

The school's Lottery Application Information notice of October 22, 2024 links parent portal creation for students new to Brevard Public Schools applying for choice schools, a parents' guide for existing students, a guide for ELO/EPO renewal, Just Moved and Sports Only applications, and a School Choice Timeline. The West Shore site lists the campus at 250 Wildcat Alley, Melbourne, with phone 321-242-4730, and links a Family Dashboard run by the district's Equity, Innovation and Choice office.

Its academic menu includes gifted services, small learning communities and a senior project. The NCES school search lists West Shore Junior/Senior High School with grades 7 through 12 and 948 students in 2024-2025, and the FLDOE 2026 file gives the Melbourne campus an A with 87 percent of total possible points and a 100 percent graduation rate for 2024-25.

Stone Magnet Middle at 1101 East University Boulevard is Melbourne's magnet middle school, serving grades 7 and 8.

The Stone Middle site invites Melbourne applicants to two programs by name, the AVID program and Stone's Science Research program, each with its own application, and lists the school phone as 321.723.0741. Its elective list includes art, band and orchestra, and culinary courses, and its clubs include an astronaut club, a First Lego League team and an esports team.

The NCES school search lists Stone Magnet Middle School with grades 7 through 8 and 557 students in 2024-2025. In the FLDOE 2026 school grades file the Melbourne magnet earned a C with 52 percent of total possible points, the same letter it received in 2025 and 2024.

The Stone name has its own long Melbourne history, told on the Digital Towns history page for Stone High School; the magnet designation is the campus's current role in Brevard Public Schools.

Melbourne High is the city's International Baccalaureate school, and Eau Gallie High offers AICE/Cambridge and academy programs.

The Melbourne High site describes an International Baccalaureate World School hosting both the Diploma Program and the Career Program, alongside Advanced Placement, Career and Technical Education and Dual Enrollment, which it calls an accelerated program that lets students earn college credit while in high school tuition-free. The FLDOE 2026 file gives Melbourne Senior High an A with 66 percent of possible points.

Eau Gallie High, at 1400 Commodore Blvd. in the city's north end, offers a different menu. The Eau Gallie High site lists an AICE/Cambridge Program, AVID, Career and Technical Education, a Health and Wellness Academy and a Fine Arts Academy, and describes AICE as a program that offers college credit for classes taken on the high school campus. Its CTE programs include Aerospace Mechanics, Automotive, Marine Mechanics, Digital Design, Architectural drafting and Health and Wellness, and the school credits its Eastern Florida State College partnership for graduates who earn an AA degree with their diploma.

The same Eau Gallie site reports that the Health and Wellness Academy class of 2024 had a 100% pass rate on the Certified Medical Assistant and EKG technician exams. The FLDOE 2026 file gives Eau Gallie High a C with 54 percent of points.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the Sabal, West Shore, Stone, Melbourne High and Eau Gallie High school sites, Florida Statute 1002.31, two NCES school searches and the FLDOE 2025-26 school grades file, each fetched again that day.