ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Superintendent Maria Vazquez reiterated Friday that Orange County Public Schools is still projected to lose more than 3,000 students this upcoming school year.
Because of it, the school board has made a tough decision to cut the budget.
“We really had to right-size the funding and right-size those budgets because of lower enrollment,” said school board member Angie Gallo.
Gallo says some classes with low enrollment will be cut.
“We can’t afford to offer those classes that don’t have full enrollment,” Gallo said.
But what’s causing the drastic decline in enrollment?
We found enrollment in OCPS’s traditional elementary, middle and high schools dropped by roughly 7,000 students between the 2019-2020 school year to last year.
We found it didn’t matter what region or whether the school was in a low- or high-income area of the county.
Since the pandemic, the enrollment at Wyndham Lakes Elementary in Buena Vista dropped by nearly 350 students, Timber Lake Elementary in Avalon Park by nearly 150 students, Summer Lake in Horizon West dropped by roughly 120, and Orlo Vista Elementary’s enrollment decreased by about 40 students.
The numbers aren’t necessarily cut and dried because of redistricting in some cases, but overall, it shows small declines in enrollment that add up.
Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar says this is caused by a variety of factors.
“I, like a lot parents, am very frustrated by all the requirements our students must go through in our public schools… high stakes testing, rigid curriculums,” Spar said.
Spar along with Orange County Public Schools say one of the main reasons enrollment is down is because families are taking advantage of school vouchers.
The district shared data showing the decline in enrollment at traditional and charter schools happened as Family Empowerment Scholarship enrollment increased by about the same percentage. The steady increase of Family Empowerment enrollment began during the 2023-24 school year when the state made vouchers available for all Florida students.
But Orange County admits they have not been collecting data on where students transfer after leaving Orange County Public Schools.
“Do we truly know that it’s a voucher issue?,” Webb asked.
“We don’t know that it’s truly a voucher issue,” Spar said.
Gallo says it’s in part why Orange County hired Caissa K-12 to get better information on where students are going to and why they left.
Caissa K-12’s main task is to recruit students back to OCPS after leaving for homeschooling or charter and private schools.
For each student recruited back to OCPS, the district will pay $935.
“We’re focused on being competitive,” Gallo said.
Superintendent Vazquez says OCPS should have a better understanding of where this year’s enrollment is a few weeks after the start of the school yeara
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