Public Schools in Miami, Florida

Public schools in Miami belong to Miami-Dade County Public Schools, a countywide district governed by the elected Miami-Dade County School Board and led by Superintendent of Schools Rafael Villalobos.

The Miami-Dade County School Board approves the district budget, as it did for 2026-27 on September 9, 2026 (M-DCPS news release, September 9, 2026). On November 19, 2025, the board re-elected Mari Tere Rojas of District 6 as Chair for the coming year, her fourth time leading the board, and re-elected Monica Colucci of District 8 as Vice Chair (M-DCPS news release).

Villalobos is himself an M-DCPS graduate who started as a teacher at South Dade Senior High School in 1994 and worked up through principal and Region Superintendent before taking the top job (M-DCPS Superintendent page). The change matters for anyone reading older Miami school pages: the district's May 2025 release still quoted Superintendent Jose L. Dotres (M-DCPS news release, May 20, 2025), and by the September 2026 budget vote the superintendent quoted was Villalobos (M-DCPS news release, September 9, 2026).

District headquarters sits at 1450 NE 2nd Ave in downtown Miami, ZIP 33132, and the general line is (305) 995-1000 (M-DCPS). In May 2025 the district renamed that main administration building the Perla Tabares Hantman School Board Administration Building, honoring a board member who served 26 years and 14 terms as School Board Chair (M-DCPS news release, May 20, 2025).

Miami-Dade County Public Schools earned an A district grade from the Florida Department of Education for 2025-26, with 836 points and 70 percent of possible points.

The state's district grades file, dated as of September 1, 2026, shows Miami-Dade at 67 in English Language Arts achievement, 68 in mathematics achievement, 65 in science and 79 in social studies, with a 2024-25 graduation rate component of 93 and 99 percent of students tested (FDOE district grades). The same Miami-Dade row lists an A for 2026, 2025 and 2024. The district's own summary calls it A-rated for seven consecutive years, with 99 percent of schools rated A, B or C and a 95 percent graduation rate in traditional public schools, and describes M-DCPS as the 3rd largest school district in the U.S. (M-DCPS).

The district's September 30, 2026 release repeats the description of M-DCPS as the nation's third-largest school district (M-DCPS news release, September 30, 2026).

A district A hides wide spreads between schools. Among the six high schools in the table below, the grades file runs from 100 percent of points at the School for Advanced Studies Wolfson campus to 57 percent at Miami Edison Senior High, so the grade of the specific school matters more than the county average.

Miami Senior High, Design and Architecture Senior High, New World School of the Arts and the School for Advanced Studies Wolfson campus all earned A grades for 2025-26 from the Florida Department of Education.

Miami Senior High earned its A with 68 percent of points and a 96 on the 2024-25 graduation rate component (FDOE). Design and Architecture Senior High posted 74 percent and New World School of the Arts 81 percent, both A schools in the 2025-26 file (FDOE; FDOE). High schools are graded on a stricter scale than elementary schools: an A needs 65 percent of points for high and combination schools against 62 percent for elementary schools (FDOE).

Schools that admit by application, such as New World School of the Arts or the School for Advanced Studies, are reached through the Miami-Dade magnet and choice process rather than by address; the Miami magnet programs guide covers those dates and rules. Miami Edison Senior High, an A school in 2025, fell to a C with 57 percent in 2026 (FDOE), a reminder to check the newest file before choosing a Miami school.

A Miami family enrolls through the M-DCPS Admissions Application in the Parent Portal, where the neighborhood school is approved automatically, then registers at the school with proof of age, proof of address and health records.

The district admissions page lays out three steps: find a school by interest or near home, apply through the Parent Portal using a Google or Apple account, and register (M-DCPS Admissions). Choice applications are available year round, and a family is auto approved for its neighborhood school. Every child entering a Miami-Dade school for the first time must prove age with an authentic document issued by a government agency, the parent's residence is verified at registration, and the student must live with the parent who enrolls the student.

The Florida Department of Health requires school-entry immunizations and a physical examination, and the district lists those records with the registration materials (M-DCPS Admissions). Once the acceptance notice arrives by email, the family takes it and the documents to the new school to finish enrollment. For questions, the page offers an Enrollment Inquiry Form that puts a family in touch with an Enrollment Choice Officer.

Magnet and VPK applications run on a calendar instead: applications for 2027-2028 opened October 1, 2026, and close January 15, 2027, and VPK applicants must be age 4 before September 1 (M-DCPS Admissions).

The 2026-2027 school year in Miami-Dade County Public Schools began on Thursday, August 13, 2026.

Before that first day the district asked Miami families to register students, update emergency contacts, confirm immunizations, review bus assignments and meal applications, and download the Dadeschools Mobile App, which carries schedules, grades, lunch menus and real-time bus tracking (M-DCPS news release, August 11, 2026).

The same release lists the numbers Miami-Dade schools use to reach parents: (305) 995-1000 for district voice calls, (305) 939-0950 for district and school bus text alerts, (305) 939-0946 for Central Region school texts and 54968 for emergency text messages from schools and the district. North Region and South Region schools text from (305) 939-0945 and (305) 939-0947 (M-DCPS).

Parents update phone numbers and email addresses through the child's school, and the district notes that accurate contacts let it send transportation alerts and emergency notices quickly (M-DCPS). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the dadeschools.net pages of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

The Miami-Dade County School Board approved a $7.4 billion budget for 2026-27 on September 9, 2026, with a school millage rate of 6.623.

More than 96 percent of the budget goes to teaching and direct services to students, custodial, security and other school-level services, and the 6.623 millage is a slight decrease from 6.633 the year before (M-DCPS news release, September 9, 2026). Voter-approved referendum money again splits 88 percent to teacher salaries and 12 percent to school safety, which pays for an officer on site at every Miami-Dade school as state law requires.

The bigger shift is enrollment. The district built a substantial reserve for full-time equivalent students because it expects fewer students, citing declining birth rates, shifting migration and the high cost of living in Miami (M-DCPS). That reserve is the district's own signal that school-level budgets in Miami can move during the year as counts come in.

Coconut Grove Elementary School, Coral Way K-8 Center and Liberty City Elementary School are three Miami-Dade district schools that earned an A for 2025-26.

Coconut Grove Elementary posted 78 percent of possible points with every student tested, and its row in the state file shows an A in every graded year from 2011 through 2026, after a B in 2010 (FDOE). Coral Way K-8 Center earned 69 percent (FDOE). For elementary schools the A line is 62 percent of points, lower than the 65 percent required of high schools.

Liberty City Elementary School is the turnaround in this group: a Title I school in the state file, it earned an A with 67 percent in 2026 and an A in 2025, after a B in 2024, C grades in each graded year from 2017 through 2023 and a D in 2016 (FDOE). A grade history like that is the reason Miami families should read a school's full row rather than a single year.

Getting to a school outside the neighborhood is a cost to plan for. The district transportation guide says magnet students in kindergarten through grade 12 are eligible for the K-12 EASY Card from Miami-Dade County Transit, which halves Metrobus and Metrorail fares, and the $2 card cost is waived for first-time applicants (M-DCPS transportation guide). The county transit fares page lists the discounted fares for local K-12 students (Miami-Dade County transit fares). Families apply with proof of enrollment, a student ID, a class schedule and a recent report card, and the card is mailed within 15 business days.