Government Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans have for years aggressively turned the state into a haven for school choice. They have been wildly successful, with tens of thousands of additional children enrolling in private or charter schools or homeschooling.
As these programs grow in popularity, some of Florida’s largest school districts are facing staggering enrollment declines — and grappling with the possibility of campus closures — as dollars follow the increasing number of parents opting out of traditional public schools.
An emphasis on these programs has been central to DeSantis’ goals to reshape Florida’s education system, and they are poised for another year of growth. DeSantis’ school policies are already impacting other Republican Party-leaning states, many of which have adopted similar voucher programs. But Florida has served as a conservative laboratory for a range of other policies, ranging from attacking diversity programs in the public and private sectors to fighting the Biden administration on immigration.
“We need big changes across the country,” DeSantis said Thursday evening at the Florida Homeschool Convention in Kissimmee. “Florida has shown a blueprint, and we can really be a driver of that as other states work to adopt many of the policies we’ve put in place.”
Education officials in some of the state’s largest counties are trying to cut costs by repurposing or closing campuses entirely — including in Broward, Duval and Miami-Dade counties. Even as some communities unite to save their local public schools, traditional public schools are left with empty seats and budget problems.
Since 2019-2020, when the pandemic upended education, some 53,000 students in these provinces have left traditional public schools, a significant total that is forcing school leaders to consider closing campuses that have been entrenched in local communities for years.
In Broward County, Florida’s second-largest school district, officials have floated plans to close as many as 42 campuses in the coming years, moves that would have a ripple effect in Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood.
The district has lost more than 20,000 students in the past five years, a decline that comes as charter schools in particular experienced significant growth in the area. Enrollment at charters, public schools that operate under performance contracts that free them from many government regulations, has increased by nearly 27,000 students since 2010, according to Broward school officials.
Broward County Public Schools claims to have more than 49,000 empty classrooms this year, a number that “closely matches” the 49,833 students attending area charter schools, officials noted in an enrollment review.
These fluctuations in enrollment are forcing Broward leaders to merge and condense dozens of schools, efforts that would save the district major operating costs. So far, some ideas have met with heavy resistance.
A proposal aimed at turning a popular Fort Lauderdale magnet school that focuses on the Montessori teaching method into a neighborhood school drew a crowd of nearly 200 people at a recent town hall. There, dozens of spectators, a sea of blue “VSY” shirts representing Virginia Shuman Young Elementary School, argued the plan would cause unnecessary “disruption” to a top-rated school.
“You’re trying to create school communities that attract families,” Erin Gohl, VSY PTA president, said during the May 6 town hall. “Look at what you have in front of you – do not replicate, dismantle or destroy this incredible school community.”
Strong opposition to school closures prompted Broward Superintendent Howard Hepburn to abruptly abandon the idea for the coming school year. But school board members ordered Hepburn to formulate a plan to close eight schools by 2025 or 2026, saying it was a difficult but appropriate decision.
“If you want us to provide your children with a great education and create the Broward County of tomorrow, you want us to close campuses,” school board member Allen Zeman said during a May 14 meeting. “And you want us to spend that money on educating your students.”
Where students go
Enrollment declines for Broward, Duval and Miami coincide with the Covid-19 pandemic, which left parents looking for new education choices for their children. The way traditional public schools have handled the pandemic, and disagreements over curriculum and subject matter, have also contributed to parents leaving, advocates say.
“If your product is better, everything will be fine. The problem is that they are a relic of the past — a monopolized system where you only have one option,” Chris Moya, a Florida lobbyist who represents charter schools and the state’s largest voucher management organization, said of traditional public schools. “And when parents have options, they vote with their feet.”
Enrollment among charters statewide increased by more than 68,000 students from 2019 to 2020, according to data from the Florida Department of Education. More than a third of that increase occurred in Broward, Duval and Miami counties alone.
Enrollment at private schools across Florida increased by 47,000 students to 445,000 students from 2019 to 2020, according to the latest available data from the state. Much of that growth comes from newly enrolled kindergarten students, with only a small portion of these students having previously attended public schools, according to Step Up for Students, Florida’s leading administrator of state-sponsored scholarships.
A growing number of families also chose to homeschool their children during this time, as this population grew by nearly 50,000 students between 2019-20 and 2022-23, for a total of 154,000 students according to the most recent data from the Florida Department ofEducation.
As all these choices expand, enrollment in traditional public schools across the state fell by 55,000 students from 2019 to 2020, state data show. But the number of registrations is not declining everywhere. While Duval County has lost thousands of students, enrollment in neighboring St. John’s County, the state’s top-ranked school district, has increased by more than 7,700.
“The money follows the student and the family. It is not embedded in any particular system or framework,” DeSantis said in April when asked about possible school closures in Duval. “And so the student and the family will make those decisions.”
In Miami-Dade, nearly 15,000 new students are expected to receive state education funding this fall. But all that growth is flowing to private and charter schools, leaving Miami Dade Public Schools bracing for a drop of more than 4,000 students next year.
What on paper may seem like a “great story” for a school district actually represents a significant dip in enrollment, Ron Steiger, Chief Financial Officer of Miami Dade Public Schools, told school board members during a May 22 workshop .
“These students are not ours,” he said.
The state’s scholarship program is expected to grow, which could lead to more students leaving traditional public schools. While most new scholarship recipients previously attended private schools, there is room for another 82,000 statewide — nearly 217,000 in total — to attend private school or find another out-of-state education option next school year.
Furthermore, an additional 22,000 scholarships will be available for families who choose to homeschool — up to 40,000 — and an additional 16,000 for students with special needs, according to projections from state economists.
Schools are struggling with decline
While school leaders in Miami are not considering closing schools due to declining enrollment, the district is preparing to repurpose several campuses. The plans are already angering parents, who worry about what their new school could look like.
And the growth of school choice programs in Duval County is a key factor behind the budget crisis gripping the school district, according to school officials.
Traditional public schools in the area are expected to enroll about 10,000 fewer students in 2024-2025 compared to five years ago, according to Dana Kriznar, interim superintendent of Duval County Public Schools.
Like Broward, school leaders in Duval are pushing to consolidate and close schools due to enrollment declines and preparing to cut more than 700 jobs. The district is also expected to run out of federal Covid-19 dollars and is facing higher construction costs for previously planned projects, adding to the budget crisis.
Local communities are trying to fight the cuts. Near Florida’s Atlantic coast, surrounded by palm trees, Atlantic Beach Elementary has served generations of Floridians in the area just north of Jacksonville since 1939 with a distinctive Art Deco style. But it is one of many at risk of closure in Duval County, prompting Atlantic Beach city commissioners to pass a resolution to save their “little pink school” from the chopping block.
But even if the Duval school board spares the classic pink campus, or Broward withdraws from Virginia Shuman Young Elementary School, there will still be changes and closures at traditional public schools in these areas.
“It’s a financial decision that we make, but we also don’t make it without compassion and community involvement,” Duval County School Board member Charlotte Joyce said during a recent workshop meeting. “If we don’t address this problem, it could spell the demise of traditional public education in Duval County.”
