Miami-Dade County Public Schools opens Thursday, August 13, 2026. For most families that date means a supply list and a slightly earlier alarm. For co-parenting families, it means something else: every gap in your parenting plan that summer flexibility quietly absorbed is about to become a scheduling problem with a deadline attached.
I see the pattern every year. Parents who got through June and July without a single argument are back in my office in September, because nobody decided in advance who handles Wednesday early release, who signs the field trip form, or who pays the activity fee.
Most of that is preventable in an afternoon. Here’s how to spend it.
Why August Is a Busy Month in Miami Family Court
Summer is forgiving. Schedules are loose, one parent covers when the other can’t, and the arrangement holds because nothing is on the line.
The school year removes the slack. It introduces fixed times, mandatory forms, a physical location the child has to be at every morning, and a stream of costs that arrive in a single compressed month. Anything vague in your parenting plan gets tested immediately, and it gets tested in front of your children.
The disputes that land in front of a judge in the fall are rarely about anything dramatic. They are about a parent who wasn’t told about a parent-teacher conference. A weekly early release nobody accounted for. A registration form signed by one parent without telling the other. Small things, compounding, until one parent decides the pattern is the problem and files.
Two weeks of planning now is the cheapest legal work you will ever do.
The 2026–2027 M-DCPS Calendar Dates Every Co-Parent Should Map
Pull your parenting plan and the district calendar up side by side. Map these against your time-sharing schedule and flag every conflict:
| Date | What it is |
|---|---|
| Thursday, August 13, 2026 | First day of school |
| November 23–27, 2026 | Thanksgiving recess |
| December 21, 2026 – January 1, 2027 | Winter recess |
| March 22–26, 2027 | Spring recess |
| Thursday, June 3, 2027 | Last day of school |
Two items that catch people out:
Wednesday early release. Elementary students (grades 2–5) and K–8 Center students (grades 2–8) are released an hour early every Wednesday. That is roughly 36 hours of childcare across the year that somebody has to cover.
Teacher planning and professional development days. These are scattered through the calendar, students are out, and most parenting plans say nothing about them. They are not holidays under your order, which means the default schedule governs — and the parent who happens to have a workday gets stuck.
Check dadeschools.net for the official calendar and any board revisions before you rely on these dates.
School Records and Parental Responsibility in Florida: What Both Parents Are Entitled To
This is the single most common misunderstanding I encounter, so let me be direct about it.
Time-sharing and parental responsibility are two different things. Having the majority of overnights does not give you control over the child’s education or the right to be the only parent the school talks to.
Florida law is explicit. Under section 61.13(2)(c)7 of the Florida Statutes, access to records and information about a minor child — including medical, dental, and school records — may not be denied to either parent. Those rights apply fully to both parents unless a court order specifically revokes them, including restrictions imposed by a domestic violence injunction. A parent with those rights has the same access as the other parent in form, substance, and manner, and that expressly includes in-person communication with the child’s education providers.
Practically, that means both parents should:
- Register separately on the M-DCPS Parent Portal, each with their own login. A shared login is not access; it is access at the other parent’s pleasure.
- Appear on the emergency contact and pickup authorization forms.
- Receive school communications directly rather than relayed through the other household.
If your final judgment or an injunction restricts one parent’s access, give the school registrar a copy so they can apply it correctly. If it doesn’t, both parents are entitled to be in the loop — and cutting the other parent out isn’t a strategy. It’s a fact pattern the other side will bring to a judge, and it tends to land badly.
Who Pays for Supplies, Uniforms, and Activity Fees?
Back-to-school costs arrive all at once: supplies, uniforms, backpacks, technology fees, sports physicals, aftercare enrollment, activity deposits.
Read your parenting plan or final judgment and find out what it actually says. Many Florida child support orders address the guideline amount, health insurance, and childcare, and say nothing at all about extracurricular or school-related expenses. If yours is silent, those costs are a negotiation every August, forever, unless you fix the document.
A few practical rules while you sort it out:
- Agree in writing before you spend. A text message confirming “I’ll cover uniforms, you cover the technology fee” is a record. A verbal agreement in a parking lot is not.
- Keep receipts for anything you expect to be reimbursed.
- Don’t self-help. Deducting what you think the other parent owes for school supplies from your child support payment is not a remedy. It is a violation, and it turns you into the party explaining yourself to the court.
If you are already contemplating a modification for another reason, this is worth folding into the same petition. Two trips to court cost roughly twice what one does.
When a Move Changes the Child’s School: Relocation Basics
Parents often assume any move that changes the child’s school is a “relocation” requiring court approval. That isn’t quite right, and the distinction matters.
Under section 61.13001, Florida Statutes, relocation has a specific definition: a change in the parent’s principal residence of at least 50 miles from the residence at the time of the last order establishing or modifying time-sharing, lasting at least 60 consecutive days — not counting temporary absences for vacation, education, or the child’s health care. Both thresholds have to be met. A move that qualifies requires either a written agreement signed by the parties or a petition to relocate, and the statute imposes specific notice requirements and a short window for the other parent to object. Moving without complying carries real consequences.
But most Miami-Dade moves are well under 50 miles. Coral Gables to Kendall does not trigger the relocation statute—although they might feel millions of miles apart because of traffic patterns.
That does not make it a non-issue. If the move changes the child’s school assignment, that is an educational decision, and under shared parental responsibility it is one both parents participate in. One parent cannot unilaterally re-enroll the child somewhere else and present it as settled.
There’s also a provision worth knowing that runs the other direction: under section 61.13, if the parents were living more than 50 miles apart when the last time-sharing order was entered and one parent then moves within 50 miles of the other, that move may be treated as a substantial and material change in circumstances supporting a modification — provided the modification is in the child’s best interests. A move closer can open the door to a schedule that wasn’t practical before.
Enforcing a Parenting Plan the Other Parent Won’t Follow
If the other parent is withholding the children, refusing exchanges, or ignoring the school-year schedule, you have options. Depending on the circumstances, you may be entitled to makeup time-sharing for parenting time you were denied, enforcement of unpaid support, and in some cases attorney’s fees.
The thing to understand is that enforcement gets harder the longer you wait. A pattern you tolerated from August through December is a pattern you appeared to accept. Judges notice the gap between when the violations started and when you finally did something about them.
Document as you go. Dates, times, what was supposed to happen, what did. Keep it factual and unemotional — you are building a record, not writing an argument.
When to Modify Instead of Argue
Sometimes the schedule genuinely doesn’t work anymore. The child changed schools, started a sport that meets four nights a week, or aged into a routine the original plan never contemplated.
To modify a parenting plan or time-sharing schedule in Florida, you must show a substantial and material change in circumstances, and that the modification is in the child’s best interests. Effective July 1, 2023, the Legislature removed the older requirement that the change also be unanticipated — a meaningful shift that made some modifications reachable that previously were not. Florida law now also applies a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in the child’s best interests.
Whether your specific facts clear that bar is a case-by-case question, and it is worth answering honestly before you spend money finding out. Not every frustrating situation is a modifiable one. Some are, and waiting costs you.
Get a Straight Answer Before You File
If you’ve worked through this checklist and hit a wall — the other parent won’t cooperate on school decisions, the schedule no longer functions, or someone is talking about moving — the useful next step is finding out where you actually stand.
A $250 Case Assessment Session gives you a clear read on whether you have a case worth bringing, what it is likely to cost, and what to expect. Going back to court is expensive. Finding out you shouldn’t is considerably cheaper than finding out too late that you shouldn’t have.
Call (305) 710-9419 to schedule your Case Assessment Session, or request a callback and I’ll reach out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can both parents access school records in Florida? Yes. Under Florida Statutes, access to a minor child’s records — including school records — may not be denied to either parent, unless a court order specifically revokes that right. This applies regardless of which parent has more overnights.
Does my ex need my permission to change our child’s school? If you share parental responsibility, educational decisions are made jointly, and one parent generally cannot unilaterally change the child’s school. If the move is also 50 or more miles and lasts 60 or more consecutive days, Florida’s relocation statute may apply separately.
What happens if my ex won’t follow the parenting plan during the school year? You can ask the court to enforce the order. Depending on the facts, remedies may include makeup time-sharing, enforcement of support, and in some cases attorney’s fees. Document violations as they happen and act promptly.
How do I change my time-sharing schedule for the school year? You need a court order. To modify, you must show a substantial and material change in circumstances and that the change is in your child’s best interests. Informal verbal agreements between parents are not enforceable.
Is a move within Miami-Dade County a “relocation” under Florida law? Usually not. Florida’s relocation statute applies to moves of 50 or more miles lasting 60 or more consecutive days. Most moves within Miami-Dade fall short of that — but they may still require agreement on school decisions, and may support a modification.
This article is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Family law is fact-specific and your situation is unique — consult an attorney about your individual circumstances. Vivian C. Rodriguez is licensed to practice in the State of Florida.
Vivian C. Rodriguez, P.A. | One Alhambra Plaza, PH Floor, Coral Gables, FL 33134 (by appointment) | (305) 710-9419