Are there any parents out there that live or have lived in Florida and have more insight into the program? We currently live in NC, but husband may be taking a job promotion that leads us to the Jacksonville, Florida area. Our youngest is currently a freshman in high school, and we do not plan on making her start school in Florida until the fall of 2019. I know the specifications of the program, but I was unsure how it would work for someone not spending all 4 high school years in Florida. Is anyone familiar with that? Also, I have been researching schools in the area and unless she is able to get into Stanton Preparatory College (magnet school in Duval County), we are looking at living in St. John’s county (in the upper west corner) which would place us in the district for Creekside High School. Does anyone know of any other school/areas around Jacksonville that would be good?
Her diploma will be from a Florida High School so she is eligible. Both of the schools you mentioned are well regarded with a high level of student performance.
As long as she graduates from a FL school and completes all the BF requirements, she’ll receive it.
Stanton Prep is still an inner city school and very different from the St. Johns County schools. It’s also much farther north so depending on where you live, it could be a hike. The sports teams aren’t very competitive. Creekside, Bartram, and Ponte Vedra are all suburban schools with all the good and bad (little diversity, good sports, good theater/art/music programs) of a suburban school system. Nease (the home of Tim Tebow) is more diverse and is the IB program for this group of schools. While all of St Johns county is heavy military, Nease sends a good number of students to service academies and ROTC.
The beach communities are part of Jacksonville but have their own mayors and schools. They sort of run independent of the Duval county government.
My kids graduated from Creekside and they transferred in as sophomores. I picked Creekside because it was closest to my office. Or so I thought. If I’d picked a place farther south that would have put us in the Bartram zone, I could have commuted just as quickly by jumping on I-95. Probably the same with PV. It all worked out, but for a few reasons specific to my kids, Bartram would have been better.
All you need to be is a Florida resident (usually in effect, after living in Florida for 12 months) and
Earn a standard Florida high school diploma or its equivalent from a Florida public high school or a registered Florida Department of Education (FDOE) private high school; or complete a home education program.
Here’s a link to the Bright Futures Student Handbook:
https://www.floridastudentfinancialaidsg.org/SAPBFMAIN/SAPBFMAIN
Currently the highest level of Bright Futures (FAS, 100% tuition) requires a weighted GPA of 3.5, ACT/SAT of 29/1290 and 100 service hours (don’t forget these!).
The next level (FMS, 50% tuition) requires a 3.0+ weighted GPA, ACT/SAT of 26/1170 and 75 service hours.
Other ways to qualify is to be a National Merit Finalist/scholar, National Hispanic Scholar, earn an IB or AICE diploma. An IB or AICE program can be appealing, since the diploma means you auto qualify for the highest level award.
Creekside and Bartram offer AP classes, while Nease has the IB program. They all also support Duel Enrollment. In Florida, the state will pay for the AP test (it’s free to you), they also pay a bonus to the AP teachers, based on how many students pass the test. The state also helps supports the IB and AICE programs.
In Duval county, we have several magnet high schools. The best IB programs are at Stanton and Paxon. We live in the Mandarin section of Jacksonville, just north of St. Johns County and we decided to stick with the local HS (Mandarin HS)> It has a very good AICE program and and we didn’t want to send the kids across town to Stanton. Worked out for us.
Here’s a guide to Duval County school choice.
https://dcps.duvalschools.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=16124&dataid=13343&FileName=DCPS_EXPO%20GUIDE_FINAL_Low%20Res.pdf
@twoinanddone Thanks! Nice to know about the Bartram commute, as I have also looked into that area, and the prices for houses are a little cheaper. She’s not athletically inclined, so sports really aren’t part of the equation for us. Lol. He has been told that it is easier to commute from the north, but I have not really found in schools in that area that are on par to what she has been doing thus far. It will certainly be a shock to her, regardless of where we chose because she is currently in a class of under 150 kids, with only 570 in the entire upper school.
@Gator88NE Thanks so much! I have also heard good things about Mandarin and Bartram. I don’t think that the service hours will be an issue as she is coming from a school that requires a minimum of 40 per year (she already has 50 for this year). I am not that familiar with the AICE program, as none of our local schools in NC participate in it, but it does sound interesting.