Frequently Asked Questions

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  • 1. Where can I find a Demographics & Enrollment Planning presentation?

    School Boundary Process information presented is available on the Demographics & Enrollment Planning Department website at https://www.browardschools.com/Page/41635.

  • 2. What are demographics?

    Demographics are the characteristics of a population. For school planning, demographics refer to the number of students in different geographic areas of the county, including the number of current and projected students. Diversity characteristics: gender, race, ethnicity, English Language Learners (ELL), Exceptional Student Education (ESE), Free or Reduced Lunch (FRL) are also part of student demographics.

  • 3. What are school feeder patterns and what makes a school feeder pattern clean.

    Feeder patterns provide detailed information on student advancement from one level to another within a particular boundary based on the address where a student resides. A clean school feeder pattern is when all the students in one elementary school matriculate to the same middle school and/or all students in one middle school matriculate to the same high school. While consideration is made towards achieving 100 percent clean feeder patterns, some schools will have split feeder patterns, which means they receive students from more than one school.

  • 4. What is a TAZ?

    TAZ stands for Traffic Analysis Zone. Traffic Analysis Zones are created by the Broward County Metropolitan Planning Organization to offer a simple way of identifying different geographic areas or neighborhoods throughout Broward County. TAZ is the unit of geography most commonly used in conventional transportation planning models. Each TAZ has a set of streets or canals that define the perimeter of the TAZ or neighborhood. A unique number identifies each TAZ or neighborhood.

  • 5. What do the numbers on the Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ) maps indicate?

    On the Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ) maps, each TAZ is assigned a unique number to help identify that specific area or neighborhood. This number does not reflect the number of students living within the TAZ.

  • 6. What are Innovation Zones?

    Innovation Zones divide Broward County Public Schools into 28 representative, responsive and manageable geographic areas while maintaining the importance and influence a big district demands.

    Innovation Zones consist of a cluster of schools that include a high school, middle school(s), elementary schools and centers.

    In molding the Innovation Zone concept, the main priority was that all facets of the educational environment be addressed. Schools were organized in a feeder pattern or community-centered concept to promote a smooth, constant base of support.

    By being part of an Innovation Zone, individual schools benefit through coordination, collaboration and shared decision making with other area schools. Schools are part of a team effort and share resources to maximize opportunities and improve the education of students. (See BCPS policy 1402.)

    • Innovation Zones benefit students, parents, and the community in a number of ways. They create a bottom-up decision-making process and provide more ways for parents to become involved.
    • They have streamlined operations and create attentive administrations and localized chains of command.
    • To help meet the needs of all our students, they decentralize the school system rather than breaking it into smaller districts.

  • 7. How is the Broward County School District funded?

    Please refer to the Adopted District Educational Facilities Plan (ADEFP) at Capital Budget.
    This book will provide a detailed narrative of the District's financial information.

    For additional information contact Capital Budget at (754) 321-2080.

  • 8. Do I pay higher or lower taxes toward schools than my neighbor in another city?

    Millage determines the amount of tax paid for schools. The differences in taxes for each property are based on the value of the property (a higher valued property pays more taxes, whereas, a lower valued property pays less taxes). The school portion of the tax owed does not relate to the municipality in which the taxpayer resides and supports the countywide school district.

    For additional information contact Capital Budget  (754) 321-2080.

  • 9. I pay high taxes to live in my city. Why do I have to go to school in another city?

    Taxes collected to support schools are not specific to the municipality in which the taxpayer resides, but rather are distributed districtwide to support all Broward County Public schools.

    For additional information contact Capital Budget  (754) 321-2080.

  • 10. The term domino has been used with boundary changes. What does that mean in reference to school boundaries?

    A domino boundary change involves multiple school boundaries. It is where a portion of a school boundary is moved into another school boundary to utilize available capacity at non-adjacent schools. For example, overcrowded School A is moved into School B, and the boundary of School B is moved into under-enrolled School C to evenly distribute school enrollment between the three schools.

  • 11. What are the differences between charter and public schools? Aren’t they all public?

    Charter schools are public schools that operate under an individual governing board and hold state or local agency contracts to meet specified student achievement goals. In return, the charter school is allocated public educational funds for a stated period of time in the contract. 

    For additional information contact Choice/Charter Schools Management Support at (754) 321-2135.

Last Modified on September 7, 2023