Broward County will start the new school year with six fewer campuses, and a possible plan to close at least 10 more.

The School Board is scheduled to meet on Aug. 25 to review a list of schools that Superintendent Howard Hepburn plans to recommend closing as a way to deal with declining enrollment. Hepburn plans to make his final recommendations on Nov. 5, following a series of community and boundary meetings, with a final School Board vote on Dec. 15. The closings would take effect at the start of the 2027-28 school year.

This is the third year of the effort known as “Redefining Broward County Public Schools.” Last school year, the district decided to shut down four elementary schools, one middle school and one alternative school, with plans to sell or lease the properties or convert them into district office space. In 2025, the district closed one school, Broward Estates Elementary in Lauderhill, which was converted into a pre-K center.

Hepburn won’t say yet which schools will be on the proposed list this year, but district officials have released some details about what criteria will be used.

These include enrollment that’s below 70% of capacity, historical and projected enrollment for the affected areas, capacity at nearby schools, the general condition of the campus, cost-effectiveness, transportation requirements, and historical and projected enrollment for the affected geographical areas.

Based solely on enrollment below 70%, district officials will have plenty of schools to choose from — 85 of the district’s 210 traditional schools meet that threshold.

In past years, the district has looked at the most severely underenrolled schools. Based on last year’s enrollment, those schools for this year would include Mary M. Bethune Elementary in Hollywood (34% of capacity), McNicol Middle in Hollywood (37%), Coral Springs Elementary (37%), Tamarac Elementary (40%), Walker Elementary in Fort Lauderdale (40%), Attucks Middle in Hollywood (40%), Watkins Elementary in Hollywood (42%), Thurgood Marshall Elementary in Fort Lauderdale (42%) and Sunset Lakes Elementary in Miramar (43%).

Some of those schools may be less underenrolled this coming school year, because the district is converting some classrooms into office space. Hepburn told the South Florida Sun Sentinel the current use of the school will be considered when deciding which schools to close.

A potential candidate for closure either next year or an upcoming year is Walter C. Young Middle in Pembroke Pines, which is half full. The school is owned by the city of Pembroke Pines, and a lease says the property reverts back to the city in 2037. The district is considering moving those students to Charles Flanagan High, also in Pembroke Pines, which would become a 6-12 school.

Several severely underenrolled schools aren’t expected to close because the district is in the process of reconfiguring them or adding additional grades, officials say. For example, Pines Collegiate Academy (41%) will be in its second year of a transition from a middle school to a 6-12, while Silver Shores STEAM Academy in Miramar (45%) is in the middle of a transition from an elementary school to a K-8.

Also spared will be underenrolled high schools, such as the half-enrolled Stranahan High, where maintenance workers have opened offices to fill some vacant space, Hepburn told the Sun Sentinel.

“There’s not enough relief for high schools,” he said. “You’re talking about over a thousand students and even if a high school has additional capacity for 500 or 700, you just can’t move a thousand students.

“High schools are unique,” Hepburn said. “Elementary schools usually have a cluster of elementary schools within a vicinity. You even sometimes have a cluster of middle schools within a vicinity. Usually a high school is directly the center of a community, and the boundary is so large, so to bus a group of kids significantly farther from their neighborhood is definitely challenging, and we take that into consideration too.”

During the last two years, most of the school closings have been concentrated in two of the seven School Board districts. In District 2 in the Pembroke Pines and Miramar area, represented by Rebecca Thompson, the School Board closed Sunshine Elementary, Panther Run Elementary and Palm Cove Elementary. In District 5 in the Fort Lauderdale and Plantation area, represented by Jeff Holness, North Fork Elementary, Plantation Middle and Broward Estates closed. One school in District 3, represented by Sarah Leonardi, closed, Seagull Alternative High School in Fort Lauderdale.

“I think we should have looked more in the northern areas than we did last time,” Thompson told the Sun Sentinel. “If we’re going to rightsize the district, the whole district needs to be looked at. I firmly believe that.”

Last year, Hepburn recommended closing Forest Glen Middle in Coral Springs. But Board member Lori Alhadeff, whose district includes the school, argued that Broward has 36 middle schools and 19 are more underenrolled than Forest Glen. She recommended putting new programs in the school to attract students, and a majority of board members supported that.

School closings in the past have largely been opposed by community members. But Coral Springs parent Nicole Morst, who chairs the parent group known as the North Area Advisory Council, told the Sun Sentinel that the district needs to consider closing some schools in her area as a way to improve educational offerings. She said small schools, such as Coral Springs Elementary, often don’t get enough teachers allocated to offer a full array of classes such as art and music.

“When people hear that their school is going to close, it’s a hard pill,” she told the Sun Sentinel. “But if you tell them what they’re missing and what they’re going to get, then it’s more palatable.”

Morst is running for School Board to try to replace Alhadeff, who isn’t seeking reelection. The final decision will be made by a board that includes Alhadeff’s successor. Morst’s opponent, Sharry Kimmel, agreed that more school closings may be necessary, but she voiced caution in a Sun Sentinel candidate questionnaire.

“I would support additional school closures only when a thorough and transparent review of the data demonstrates that they are financially necessary and educationally responsible,” Kimmel wrote. “No one wants to close a neighborhood school. These decisions affect students, employees, families and entire communities.

“However, the School Board also has a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers and cannot continue spending limited resources maintaining large numbers of empty seats while classrooms and teachers need greater support,” Kimmel wrote.

Board member Maura Bulman’s district in southeast Broward initially had multiple schools considered for closure over the past two years, but none made the final cut. Bulman said she’s been working to reduce the footprint of her schools by using extra space for district offices or for cities and community groups.

“I think that really helped in my district,” Bulman said. “I don’t know that I’ll be spared the next time, and quite frankly I’m not privy to the list of what they’re going to recommend in August. I’ve had quite a few schools on the (potential) list this past year, and that’s a very traumatic thing for the community.”

District officials say the new process for making decisions will be quicker this year than in the past. Last year, the district had about 13 community meetings, including three regional ones before any recommendations were made. The School Board agreed this week to go to the community only after Hepburn and the board have specific recommendations.

“This is our third time going through this, and what the community has told us is this is traumatizing. Can you please just do this and get it over with?” Valerie Wanza, chief of strategy and innovation, told the School Board on Tuesday. “So we are trying to be respectful and balancing all of that feedback so that we are being respectful to the community.”