ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange County Public Schools leaders finalized the district’s $7.9 billion budget for next year Tuesday night as officials also look for additional spending cuts.
Last week, the district announced an additional $8.5 million in reductions, on top of more than 200 positions eliminated last year. OCPS has pointed to declining student enrollment and rising health care costs as major factors driving the need to cut spending.
During public comment, teachers and community members told the school board they are worried the cuts could affect schools and classrooms.
OCPS teacher Souraya Ghalayini urged leaders to stop reducing resources, saying staff are already stretched thin.
“How much more do they want to take?” she said in an interview outside the board meeting room. “For people to actually get a third job? Fourth job? Is that when they say, ‘Oh, okay. Let’s not cut anymore.’”
The Orange County Classroom Teachers Association also pushed back, pointing to a petition it says has more than 2,200 signatures. The petition urges the district to cut administrative costs before cutting school-based positions.
Union president Clinton McCracken told the board on Tuesday, “Before another cut reaches our schools, look here first in this room.”
School Board members have told News 6 classroom positions are the last place they want to reduce.
Superintendent Maria Vazquez said Tuesday night that principals submitted proposed cuts and district staff are reviewing them to ensure they follow contracts and requirements.
The board also approved millage rates. The millage rate for 2026-2027 is set at 6.343, which is slightly lower than the previous year.
Board members said the district has limited control because the state sets key parts of the process, and they stated the millage rate has dropped by two mils over the last decade. This essentially means that even as property values rise, the district is not seeing that new money.
Leaders say that is part of why they want voters to approve a one-mill property tax on the November ballot.
“We are way too reliant on that millage,” board member Angie Gallo, who will take over the helm from Vazquez in November, said.
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