Mandatory student uniforms could bring $2.5 million for Miami-Dade schools

The Miami-Dade school system is in line to receive $2.5 million in state funds after dormally adopting a policy that mandates student uniforms for students in kindergarten through eight grade.

The Miami Herald reports that because of a law recently enacted in the Florida legislature, the district became eligible to receive $10 a student by formally adopting a districtwide uniform policy. The law established a $10 million fund to encourage use of student uniforms, and the state will pay districts on a first-come first-served basis.

Miami-Dade's revised policy will not result in any changes for students--all the district's K-8 schools already had mandatory uniform policies in place.

Individual schools still have leeway to decide the color of uniforms, the district says. Some of the funding received from the state will be used to buy uniforms for needy students who can't afford them.