Enrollment in South Florida schools has dropped significantly again this year, with local school districts reporting about 35,000 fewer students than a year ago.

This year’s declines are even more dramatic than last year, when Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties lost a combined 30,000 students. The multiple years of enrollment losses have prompted Miami-Dade and Broward to cut jobs and close some low-enrolled schools. Palm Beach County has been cutting positions but hasn’t decided to close any schools.

Unlike most years in the past, the losses aren’t limited to traditional district-run schools. Charter school enrollment dropped by 4,235.

According to data from the three South Florida school districts:

— Enrollment in Broward traditional and charter schools fell by 12,343 students this year to 224,324 students. About 2,000 of those students were from charter schools.

— Palm Beach County’s total enrollment fell by 7,219 to 173,155, district data shows. That includes charter school enrollment, which dropped by 753 students.

— Miami-Dade school enrollment dropped 15,858 overall to 305,212, including charter schools losing 1,411.

“Enrollment trends in South Florida reflect several factors, including declining birth rates, family migration to lower-cost areas and shifting parent preferences across all school sectors. Those dynamics are affecting all schools, including some charter schools, as recent data show,” Lynn Norman-Teck, executive director
of the Florida Charter School Alliance advocacy group, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

She said some charter schools, including ones managed by Charter Schools USA, “have continued to grow, reflecting strong family demand for high-quality options.”

In recent years, the state’s expansion of vouchers for private and home school education were a major factor in families leaving public schools, but that may have changed. Broward Superintendent Howard Hepburn told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that voucher use in Broward is down by more than 4,000 students, to 35,402.

“What that tells me is that families with school-aged kids are actually leaving our area and seeking out areas where they can afford to live where their paychecks are going to go longer,” Hepburn said. “This phenomenon is a national concern, especially for large urban areas.”

Voucher data was not available for the other two South Florida counties.

In addition to affordability concerns, changes in federal immigration policies have affected enrollment, officials say, including the loss of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian families.

While Broward and Miami-Dade schools have been losing students for a decade or more, Palm Beach County used to be the exception, with enrollment rising or remaining steady from 2021 to 2024. But last year, enrollment dropped by about 7,800 students.

Since fewer students equate to less money, Palm Beach County schools started taking steps to reduce costs, including cutting 244 positions.

Palm Beach County schools with big drops include Carver Middle in Delray Beach, which has lost 186 students over to the past two years, Boynton Beach High, which has lost 292 during that time, and Poinciana Elementary in Boynton Beach, which has lost more than 100 students in the past two years.

Despite having about 50,000 empty seats and about two dozen schools that are no more than half full, the district plans to keep all its schools open for now.

“The District is not considering closing any schools at this time,” Sean Cooley, chief of communication for Palm Beach County schools, told the Sun Sentinel. “Instead, our goal is to retain current students and work to increase enrollment by highlighting the benefits and opportunities our ‘A’ rated public schools offer. If enrollment trends continue, the District would first look at better uses of existing space, including new programs and co-located services, before any consideration of closing a school.”

The district even has plans to build a new elementary school in the growing Westlake community in the Acreage. Cooley said the school, scheduled to open in 2027, “will provide long-term enrollment relief to nearby schools in that growing region, including Golden Grove Elementary School and Loxahatchee Groves Elementary School.”

But school closings have become common elsewhere in South Florida. The Miami-Dade School Board in June closed nine low-enrolled schools, the Miami Herald reported. The district had announced plans to possibly close 27 more after this year, but new Superintendent Rafael Villalobos said he’s pausing a process so he can “fully review this process and its potential impact on our schools,” according to the Herald.

Broward closed seven schools over the past two years, and Hepburn has recommended closing 10 more after this year. These include Coral Springs Elementary, where enrollment has fallen by more than 100 students in the past two years and is now just a third full, and Walter C. Young Middle in Pembroke Pines, which has lost 152 students over the past two years and is now 41% full.

But the district may end up spending millions to replace two north area schools that have faced steep enrollment declines. C. Robert Markham Elementary in Pompano Beach lost 163 students in the past two years, while Margate Middle has lost 239 students.

School Board member Nora Rupert told the Sun Sentinel that both schools faced years of delays in getting needed renovations, and now it’s more cost-effective to rebuild than to renovate them. She said there are enough families in the area to warrant keeping the schools open.

“We were promised we were going to get Markham done, but then there were more and more delays until enrollment started to really fluctuate in the wrong direction,” she said. “There’s a community around there supportive of public education” and would return to a newly built school.

The main building at Markham was demolished earlier this year, and students are learning in portables, officials said.

“Parents vote with their feet,” Board member Allen Zemen said. “Going to portable classrooms and having suspended sidewalks, no playground, and construction going on everywhere, it’s not an attractive place to go. But what we know is that families that didn’t go there are waiting to go back.”

Zeman said he is less confident the district should rebuild Margate Middle, which he said would cost $135 million. He said there’s adequate space in nearby middle schools. He’s trying to persuade the School Board to close as many as 41 schools this year, arguing that students attending low-enrolled schools don’t get the same amount of courses and activities as those who go to larger schools.

“We need to be strategic about how we spend our capital dollars. $135 million is a lot,” Zeman said of the Margate Middle project.

Rupert, who leaves the School Board in November, said she hopes the board will rebuild Margate Middle. She said the conditions of the school are “pretty icky,” but the education inside is terrific.

“I totally think that the new building for Margate would make a tremendous difference because the facility is the No. 1 reason that people don’t go,” she said. “The community loves our principal and teachers that are there, but there comes a point where you know when something doesn’t have a welcoming, new, innovative look, people are going to look elsewhere.”