page_title: Miami-Dade County Public Schools
section_title: 1900s to 1930s
hierarchical_section_title: Miami-Dade County Public Schools / History / 1900s to 1930s
caption_attribution_description: English: Booker T. Washington High School
context_page_description: Miami-Dade County Public Schools is a public school district serving Miami-Dade County, in the U.S. state of Florida. Founded in 1885, it is the largest school district in Florida and the Southeastern United States, and, as of 2020, the fifth largest in the United States, with a student enrollment of 356,086 as of August 30, 2017.
  The district is managed by the School Board of Miami-Dade County, which appoints a superintendent to head the administrative portions of the district. Alberto Carvalho has been Superintendent since September 12, 2008.
  Miami-Dade County Public Schools is one of a few public school districts in the United States to offer optional international studies programs and bilingual education. Bilingual education is offered in Spanish, French, German, Haitian Creole, and Mandarin Chinese. M-DCPS is the only school district in Florida to offer bilingual education in Mandarin.
  As of 2014 35% of MDCPS teachers are graduates of Florida International University.
context_section_description: The turn of the 20th century launched Miami and its school system into decades of growth. By 1924, the county lines had shifted with the creation of Broward, Palm Beach, Lee, and Hendry counties. Despite losing jurisdiction over many of its schools in just twenty years, the school system still boasted 33 separate schools and a student population of nearly 5,000.
  Following the 1926 Miami hurricane, many schools were destroyed. The hurricane ended the 1920s land boom in Miami, and ushered in the Great Depression to the area long before the actual market crash of 1929. The crash forced many more schools not destroyed by the hurricane to be closed. Beginning in 1930 the school board faced its first overcrowding and funding problems.
  In 1928, Miami Senior High, the district's first secondary school, moved into its fifth and current location. The building cost over $1 million to construct.
  In 1926, the original Booker T. Washington Senior High School building opened in what is now the Overtown district. It was the only secondary black high school at the time in South Florida, enrolling students from as far away as Broward and Palm Beach counties.
  In 1938, George Washington Carver Sr. High opened in Coral Gables for the black residents of the Coconut Grove and Coral Gables area. Located there were also its rival schools, North Dade Sr. High, Dorsey Sr. High and Mays Sr. High.
caption: Booker T. Washington High School, founded in 1926
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