Enrolling Your Kids in a Florida School

Welcome to the sunshine state – we are so happy you are here!

Moving to Central Florida was a lifelong dream of our family and when we finally made it happen, we were so happy.

We moved the summer before our oldest started kindergarten so that the entirety of her education would be in Florida. Our decision about where to live in Central Florida was primarily driven by the school systems (and proximity to Disney World!). We used the Florida Department of Education’s Accountability & Reporting webpage as well as ratings on Great Schools to inform our decision about where to live. For many reasons, we decided to move to Clermont.

Enrolling her in a Florida school required a couple of steps:

1. Florida IDs – My husband and I needed to get our Florida drivers licenses so that we established proof of residency. Be sure to check the Tax Collector’s webpage for the documents required for your license before you go! Nothing is worse than waiting in that line only to find out you do not have everything you need.
2. Register with the school – Fill out registration documents for the zoned school. The form will be on the school’s webpage or someone can email you the form. Filling this out online will allow you to fill it out on your time at home and save you time inside the school. You are busy enough getting settled in a new home – do this on your time!
3. Verify Registration – After filling out the registration document online, we had to take additional items to the school for verification. We had to provide our state IDs, her immunization records (DH680) and a physical (DH3040). If your child has already finished kindergarten or beyond, the records and grades from their old school will also need to be sent to the new school.
   1. DH680 – Immunization records will need to be on a Florida approved form that your local Health Department can transfer for you at a small fee. Our pediatrician would not transfer her records without seeing her for a full appointment. If your child is due for an annual, they can fill out both of the required forms for you! I did all of this communication via email with the Lake County Health Department, but you can go into the physical location as well. If you are moving close to school time, I recommend doing it virtually so that you have one less thing on your list of things that have to be done once you actually get to your new home in Florida.
   2. DH3040 – This is the physical exam form that your school will require for admission to school. A pediatrician can do this for you or an urgent care doctor will too. We used an urgent care doctor because the cost of an annual physical there was only about $30, where an additional appointment at the pediatrician would have been over $100. Check with your insurance company to see what the best financial choice for you and your family is.
4. Uniforms – This was something we did not have to think about in Michigan. Many schools around here require uniforms, so be sure to know what your zoned school’s dress code is before school starts! My favorite brands for school uniforms are Children’s Place and French Toast. The school will also give you the supply list so you are prepared for that first day!
5. Try not to cry when they go off to school. Okay, so maybe this is more for you kindergarten mamas, but seeing her walk into school for the first time was an emotional moment for me.

I will also note that VPK was an entirely new concept for us. So if you are new to Florida like I was, here is what I have learned about VPK. The enrollment cut off date for Florida is September 1, so if you have kiddos turning 5 AFTER that date, they are eligible for VPK, not kindergarten. My youngest was born in October, so she will turn five while in VPK.

We hope you have a great start to your first year in a Florida school!