OCPS enrollment down by 8,000 students. Where did they go?
OCPS enrollment down 8,000. Where did the students go?
Orange County Public Schools lost more than 8,000 students between the 2025-26 school year and the current school year, which the District says is driven largely by shifts in federal policy affecting immigrant families. OCPS has already closed schools and cut budgets to account for reductions in state funding. FOX 35's Marie Edinger reports.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - Orange County Public Schools lost more than 8,000 students between the 2025-26 school year and the current school year, which the District said is driven largely by shifts in the federal government's immigration policies and enforcement.
OCPS down 8,000 students. Where did they go?
By the numbers:
Between the 2025-26 school year and this school year, the Orange County Public School District lost 8,027 students, enrollment data shows. Of the 8,000, 5,306 students were immigrants.
The district attributes the drop to the ending of temporary protected status, or TPS, for Haitian and Venezuelan students.
Enrollment numbers for these groups are tracked through a federal program, called the Every Student Succeeds Act.
Haitian student enrollment remained stable during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, losing only three students. However, after TPS was rescinded ahead of this school year, enrollment for students from Haiti dropped by a third, with 715 students leaving the district.
A similar pattern emerged among Venezuelan students. The district counted 4,908 Venezuelan students in the 2024-25 school year.
When discussions began about ending Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans, the district lost 1,275 students. When the Department of Homeland Security officially ended the status, another 1,729 Venezuelan students left the district.
What they're saying:
"I think it's heartbreaking knowing that so many of our students will not be able to access the opportunities that they had at their public school. I am worried," Orange County School Board member Stephanie Vanos, who represents District 6, said.
"We can get caught up in funding and politics and who's elected and all of this, but at the end of the day, when our public schools aren't funded, the majority of Floridians who choose public schools are not getting the resources that they need and that's the bottom line," Vanos said.
Fewer students means less funding for the district, schools
Local perspective:
Every student who leaves the classroom means less state funding for the district. According to a spokesperson for OCPS, the State Base Allocation (SBA) is roughly $9,300 per student.
Ahead of the 2026 school year, Orange County Public Schools closed seven schools, cut staff, and eliminated more than 200 district-level positions to address budget concerns amid declining enrollment.
The district said none of the seven schools were at full capacity, and closing them would save the district roughly $10 million.
District officials also cited declining birth rates, the aging population, and increasing Family Empowerment Scholarships for the decline in enrollment.
In September, the district confirmed that it would cut an additional $8.5 million "at the central level" due to the decline in enrollment numbers for the 2026-2027 school year. However, specifics are still unknown.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 35 News Investigative Reporter Marie Edinger, who explained how district enrollment data and funding impacts are tracked, as well as statements from Orange County School Board District 6 member Stephanie Vanos and information provided by the Orange County Public School District.