Pinellas County school enrollment is shrinking by thousands of students each year, with no expectation of growth for the foreseeable future.
Officials on Nov. 12 turned to the public for ideas on how to deal with the decline that has left the school district with about 45,000 more seats than students.
“This is one of the issues about why we’re coming to the community asking what we need to do in the future,” chief operating officer Jennifer Dull told a crowd of around 30 residents who came to Boca Ciega High School for the first of five town hall meetings.
The situation is not a simple one, as some areas of the county have schools filled beyond their capacity while other campuses hover at or below 50%. The answers also are not necessarily easy, either, Dull told the audience.
They could close or merge schools, find different uses for some buildings or join forces with partners that make sense, she said. Keeping campuses half-filled has become increasingly complicated by the state’s Schools of Hope law that allows certain charter schools to claim unused space in public schools for their own operations.
At least one charter operator has indicated its interest in entering more than a dozen Pinellas schools, with another round of requests expected this week as State Board of Education rules take effect.
After hearing Dull explain the situation, members of the audience, which included parents, staff members and students, wrote their thoughts onto posters that the district plans to use when crafting recommendations.
“There’s obviously going to be some tough decisions,” said Steve White, a vice president in the countywide PTA. “We just hope they put the children’s best interest and their education at the forefront of their decisions.”
White, like several others, didn’t have concrete proposals. But many said they struggled to understand how the district can make financially feasible choices while also trying to keep families with disparate interests happy.
Amy Miller, a parent and school medical behavior assistant, said she wondered how school choice would factor in as campuses inevitably close. “Will the choosing be fair?” Miller said, noting that it would be difficult to give every family their preference.
Jay Shull, a parent and spouse of a teacher, said he had concerns about the idea of providing fewer services to smaller schools as a way to keep them viable. Regardless of school size, he said, “we should seek to offer the broadest spectrum of services.”
Asked how to do it, Shull shook his head.
“I don’t know,” he said.
The district will continue to seek input at additional sessions, including:
• Tuesday, Dec. 2 at Dunedin High School
• Thursday, Dec. 4 at Hollins High School
• Tuesday, Dec. 9 at Lakewood High School
The staff plans to present its recommendations for 2026-27 to the school board in January. A second round of proposals for 2027-28 is scheduled to come next fall.