shuttered six campuses<\/a> last school year.<\/p>\nSome speakers pointed to the board\u2019s failure to determine a precise cause for the enrollment crisis and choosing to instead march on with more closures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of focus on closing schools or absorbing schools to meet the decline in enrollment rather than finding what is the cause of our decline,\u201d said a speaker at the workshop.<\/p>\n
District officials have pointed to a number of separate reasons that have all collided over the years that led to the massive shortfall in enrollment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the affordability and the birthrate are definitely a correlation. Also immigration policies, many of our newcomers are not coming to the country right now, which South Florida is a hotbed for immigration, and also the advancement of school choice,\u201d said Hepburn.<\/p>\n
The tumbling trend in enrollment has at least one board member acknowledging that these closures still may not be enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty-seven, to be clear, is 16.6% of our schools while our enrollment is going down 40%. It\u2019s less than half. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s bold \u2014 I think that\u2019s right,\u201d said Broward School Board Member Dr. Allen Zeman.<\/p>\n
Though some members feel it\u2019s the correct the decision, others said it still doesn\u2019t make it any easier to shutter more campuses and doesn\u2019t address the main issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cPulling a school off this list not only does not address the problem, it hurts the surrounding schools by denying them the opportunity to gain students and community members to strengthen their own school,\u201d said Broward School Board Member Rebecca Thompson.<\/p>\n
The ongoing enrollment woes aren\u2019t just happening in Broward. Miami-Dade County Public School officials are expected to hold a meeting next week to discuss a list of approximately 24 schools that could be closed.<\/p>\n
Meantime, Broward officials are expected to hold a final vote on the fate of these schools in December.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n
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