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District considers closing school amid falling enrollment
Seven Orange County public schools could close by the end of the current school year as the district grapples with declining enrollment, officials said. The Orange County School Board voted this week to move forward with plans that could lead to school consolidations, setting the stage for rezoning students before the next academic year.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - Orange County Public Schools is considering the possibility of consolidating or closing up to seven of its elementary schools due to declining enrollment, which leads to fewer state dollars.
Members of the Orange County School Board on Tuesday decided to give the district the all clear to keep moving forward with the steps toward consolidating the schools.
Orange County School discuss consolidation
What's New:
During the meeting, Dr. Harold Border, the chief strategy officer for Orange County Public Schools, said the district explored two possibilities for schools dealing with low enrollment. These possibilities included program redesign and consolidation.
Under program redesign, this would explore micro-schools, internal choice expansion and grade configuration, Border said.
The latter, consolidation, would consist of reassigning current students to other area schools and using the building for something else.
The backstory:
As FOX 35 previously reported, the district has identified seven schools that are being considered for closure.
The schools include Bonneville Elementary, Chickasaw Elementary, Eccleston Elementary, McCoy Elementary, Meadow Woods Elementary, Orlo Vista Elementary, and Union Park Middle.
OCPS said all seven schools face declining enrollment and are not close to operating at full capacity.
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The district has warned for months about declining enrollment. OCPS said in the past three years, enrollment is down nearly 9,000 students and down just about 4 percent.
That has financial consequences, as the district does not receive state funding that’s attached to enrollment figures.
OCPS said the decline is because of several factors, including a growing number of Family Empowerment Scholarships; declining birth rates; an older population; and changes to federal immigration policies.
The school district said it has seen the benefits of paying for a third party recruiter, but the district said in some areas there a not enough school-age children living there to fill up the local schools, even if they all attended the OCPS school.
Board members said the district has to think outside the box to turn the tide.
Why is Orange County considering closing several schools?
Dig deeper:
School officials say the discussion is the result of the continuing drop in student enrollment, with several schools operating below capacity.
Based on school enrollment vs school capacity data the district provided, the seven identified schools are operating at around 40% and 50% capacity. These identified schools are made up of six elementary schools and one middle school.
Orange County Public Schools, according to the school directory, currently has 135 elementary schools, nine K-8 schools, 41 middle schools and 24 high schools.
Enrollment data for seven identified schools in Orange County show a decline in enrollment vs. capacity.
What factors contribute to declining enrollment?
Enrollment has declined by more than 8,300 students – 4% over the past year – the school district said. OCPS anticipates this decline will continue through 2025, it said.
OCPS links the decline in enrollment to four factors:
- More families are opting for taxpayer-funded vouchers, such as Family Empowerment Scholarships. Homeschooling and school vouchers are impacting OCPS numbers. Additionally, micro schools and private schools are growing, Border said.
- A decline in birth rates. 25 students are exiting for every 21 students entering schools throughout the United States, Border said.
- A population shift. Older, established neighborhoods have fewer students, the district said. Some neighborhoods have been experiencing enrollment declines since 2018, Border said. There was a residential boom in 2010 – recovering from the housing recession – in which, for nearly a decade, the school district accepted 3,000 new students each year. To support this growth, the district built new schools in rapidly developing areas, Border said. After the pandemic in 2020, the district rebounded slightly, but is now seeing a "more alarming trend." This year, OCPS had a decrease of 5,896 students – 3.2% fewer than last year. Broward and Palm Beach counties are also losing students, he said. He anticipated this would cost the district a $41 million loss this year.
- A change in Temporary Protected Status for immigrant families
How were seven schools identified?
The district looked at several criteria to identify which schools to consolidate. This included low enrollment and the proximity to other schools.
Enrollment decline linked to funding decrease
A decline in enrollment also means a decline in funding. The district said it anticipates a loss of $41 million in funding.
Additionally, operation costs for these schools remain high, the school district said, despite "underutilization."
"When schools serve significantly fewer students than they were designed for, it becomes financially challenging to offer the full range of academic programs, extracurricular opportunities and specialized support that our students and staff deserve."
Operation costs for an elementary school in Orange County are $1.3 million and for a middle school is $2.1 million, Border said.
"The district has a responsibility to use its building, staff and financial resources efficiently so that every dollar can support strong teaching and learning at every school," he said.
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What they're saying:
OCPS Superintendent Maria Vazquez said the district enrollment at the seven schools is the major deciding factor.
"Right now those schools are at a point where we don’t see that the enrollment is going to grow," Vazquez said.
"It is difficult but as a community leader we have to make these difficult decisions to be fiscally responsible and do what is best for our students," school board member Alicia Farrant said.
"I’m sick to my stomach," school board member Angie Gallo said. "I don’t want to close schools. All these schools deserve to stay open. Every single one of them. But at some point we’ve got to put students first and this is what we’re doing to make sure every student has a high-quality education with the programs they deserve."
School board members said the district needs to think outside the box to grow enrollment.
"If we keep doing what we’ve been doing, I don’t know that we can turn this ship around," school board member Maria Salamanca said.
Parents, community respond to possible school closures
Some parents are already pushing back against the possible school closures.
Petitions have been created to save some of the schools, including Bonneville Elementary and McCoy Elementary.
"Unfortunately, our cherished school is now at risk of being closed or consolidated by the school district," reads the petition to save McCoy Elementary. "This decision would not only dismantle a strong and united community but would also negatively impact hundreds of students, particularly those who rely on the stability and support that McCoy provides."
Orange County Public Schools officials have said that no final decisions have been made yet about any school closures.
What's next:
The district will hold community meetings to inform the affected students and their families of the potential changes. A final decision on consolidation will come after the community meetings but before the start of the 2026-27 school year.
The district is now starting the process of re-zoning which will determine the schools the affected students would attend should their current school be consolidated.
The Source: FOX 35 News attended the Tuesday work session and used information compiled by and shared by OCPS. This article was also written with information from Orange County Public Schools and previous FOX 35 reporting.