Assigned schools in Sarasota County (to buy, best schools, to live in)

[mdnd19]

I've heard of the following 2 scenarios in other districts in Florida. I'm wondering do they apply to Sarasota County as well?

1. You are assigned to a specific school based on your geographic location, however you can enter a lottery for a different school of "choice" within your district.
2. You are zoned for a particular school, but sent to a different school based on overcrowding/enrollment.

Is this common? Just trying to get a better sense. We live in NJ where this does not typically occur.

[ccgirl2019]

Originally Posted by mdnd19

I've heard of the following 2 scenarios in other districts in Florida. I'm wondering do they apply to Sarasota County as well?

1. You are assigned to a specific school based on your geographic location, however you can enter a lottery for a different school of "choice" within your district.
2. You are zoned for a particular school, but sent to a different school based on overcrowding/enrollment.

Is this common? Just trying to get a better sense. We live in NJ where this does not typically occur.

Although we haven't moved to FL yet, we are moving from MA at the end of the school year and have family there. As far as zoning, they are pretty much set up like MA. Here in MA we have school choice too. Only so many "slots" per town and once filled they can no longer accept students from that town (the sending town/district pays the receiving school). I have not heard of people zoned for a particular school but sent to a different school due to overcrowding/enrollment. I have heard of schools being rezoned due to population. It happens here in MA as well. Hope this helps.

[FLKitties]

Here's the school choice information for Sarasota County from the school district: https://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/Page/2502

Update: From what I've read in seeing other people's posts on the subject of school choice in Florida, you should always try to live in an area zoned for your school(s) of choice and not rely on getting in via the school choice lottery system as many of the highly desirable schools are probably not going to be accepting new students. Yes, the potential for rezoning always exists as the population grows but you're still going to have some time before before that happens and still way more likely to be able to stay at a particular school over someone coming from a completely different area. You have to take into consideration that a number of factors go into what makes a school more popular and highly rated than another, including parental participation in a child's education and as such, even if a new school opens for an area later on, it's more likely that that school will end up with the same high marks since it's built from the same population base.

[Nancy in Nokomis]

In NJ schools are by town - here they are by county - there is a school choice list - but most of the best schools do not even appear on the list because they are filled up. Best bet is to buy in the area that has the school you want your child to attend.