Many Central Florida public schools anticipate fewer students this year
ORLANDO, Fla. —
State data reveals fewer students could be going back to school in Central Florida than in previous years.
Taking a look at the projected student totals in several Central Florida counties, one can see the school districts are projected to have about 1% fewer students than they had at the end of last year.
Volusia County Superintendent Dr. Carmen Balgobin says as of now, they think 1,400 fewer students are going to be in their public schools this year.
“If you look at our numbers, in the past three years we’ve lost a little over 4,000 students,” Balgobin said. “We’re looking into resizing our district, but we want to do it in a very responsible way.”
Almost all counties are seeing lower public school enrollment, and have been for the past four years. The trend is most pronounced in Orange County, where enrollment has dropped by thousands of students.
This year, Brevard County is projecting to have about 71,000 students, down almost 850 from the end of the last school year.
There are set to be roughly 800 fewer students in Seminole County and about 750 fewer in Osceola County as Lake County Public Schools believes it’ll have a 186-student drop.
Officials blame several factors, including declining birth rates, immigration crackdowns, and the state’s voucher program that uses taxpayer money to help families pay for private or home schooling options.
“Our projection for this year, just over 1%. So, I think we’ve stemmed the tide,” said Brevard County Superintendent Mark Rendell.
Rendell told WESH 2 that he believes his district has found how to live with the changing environment, selling families on the unique benefits that public schools can offer.
“We have an aviation and fabrication program at Eau Gallie High School. It’s a hangar at the school with two airplanes and a helicopter inside and kids can learn, students, young people can learn skills they need to go to work right away in the aerospace industry,” he said.
While most fall, some counties with rising populations are seeing enrollment climb. That includes Marion County, projecting an almost 3% jump; Flagler County, expecting a more than 7% increase; and Sumter County, which is looking forward to about 1,000 more kids in school.
“We were fortunate last year, we were the only school district in Central Florida that actually saw an increase in student enrollment. We’re looking for the same this year,” said Logan Brown, Sumter County superintendent.