School choice programs have seen great success under DeSantis. Now public schools can close.

Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans have spent years aggressively transforming the state into a school choice haven. They have been hugely successful, with tens of thousands of children enrolled in private or charter schools or home schools.

Now, as these programs grow, some of Florida’s largest school districts face staggering declines in enrollment — and face the possibility of campus closures — as dollars keep up with the growing number of parents opting out of traditional public schools. .

The emphasis on these programs has been critical to DeSantis’ goals of restructuring Florida’s education system, and they are poised for another year of growth. DeSantis’ school policies are already influencing other Republican-leaning states, many of which searched for similar voucher programs. But Florida has served as a conservative laboratory for a set of other policies, ranging from the attack on public and private sector diversity programs to the Biden administration’s fight against immigration.

“We need big changes across the country,” DeSantis said Thursday night at the Florida Homeschool Convention in Kissimmee. “Florida has shown a plan and we can really be a driver for that as other states work to adopt many of the policies we have adopted.”

Education officials in some of the state’s largest counties are looking to reduce costs by repurposing or closing campuses altogether — including in Broward, Duval and Miami-Dade counties. Even when some communities mobilize to try to save their local public schools, traditional public schools are left with empty seats and budget constraints.

Since 2019-20, when the pandemic upended education, about 53,000 students have dropped out of traditional public schools in these counties, a sizable total that is forcing school leaders to consider closing campuses that have been rooted in local communities for years.

In Broward County, Florida’s second-largest school district, officials have laid out plans to close up to 42 campuses over the next few years, moves that would have a ripple effect on Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood.

The district has lost more than 20,000 students over the past five years, a decline that comes as charter schools in particular experience considerable growth in the area. Enrollment at public schools that operate under performance contracts that exempt them from many state regulations has increased by nearly 27,000 students since 2010, according to Broward school officials.

Broward County Public Schools says it has more than 49,000 empty classroom spaces this year, a number that “closely corresponds” to the 49,833 students attending charter schools in the area, officials noted in a report.registration overview.

These swings in enrollment are putting pressure on Broward leaders to combine and condense dozens of schools, efforts that would save the district major operating costs. So far, some of the ideas have met with strong resistance.

A proposal that aims to transform a popular Fort Lauderdale school focused on the Montessori teaching method into a neighborhood school drew a crowd of about 200 people in opposition at a recent town hall. There, dozens of audience members, a sea of ​​blue “VSY” T-shirts representing Virginia Shuman Young Elementary, argued that the plan would cause unnecessary “disruption” to a top-tier school.

“You’re trying to create school communities that attract families,” said Erin Gohl, VSY PTA president, during the May 6 town hall. “See what you have before you – replicate, don’t dismantle and destroy this incredible school community.”

Strong opposition to school closures led Broward Superintendent Howard Hepburn to abruptly back away from the idea for the next school year. But school board members directed Hepburn to formulate a plan to close eight schools by 2025 or 2026, arguing it was a difficult but appropriate decision.

“If you want us to provide a great education for your children and create the Broward County of tomorrow, you want us to close campuses,” school board member Allen Zeman said during a May 14 meeting. “And you want us to spend that money educating your students.”

Where students are going

Drops in enrollment in Broward, Duval and Miami coincide with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has parents looking for new education options for their children. Traditional public schools’ handling of the pandemic, as well as disagreements over curriculum and subjects, also contributed to parental departure, according to school choice advocates.

“If your product is better, you will be fine. The problem is that they are a relic of the past — a monopolized system where you have one choice,” Chris Moya, a Florida lobbyist who represents charter schools and the state’s main voucher administration organization, said of traditional public schools. . “And when parents have options, they vote with their feet.”

Enrollment among charters increased by more than 68,000 students statewide from 2019-20 to this school year, according to data from the Florida Department of Education. More than a third of that increase happened in Broward, Duval and Miami counties alone.

Private school enrollment across Florida increased by 47,000 students to 445,000 students from 2019-20 to 2022-23, according to the latest data available of State. Much of this growth comes from students newly enrolled in kindergarten, with only a small fraction of these students previously enrolled in public schools, according to Step Up for Students, the prominent administrator of state-sponsored scholarships. in Florida.

A growing number of families have also chosen to homeschool their children during this period, as that population grew by nearly 50,000 students between 2019-20 and 2022-23, totaling 154,000 students in the latter state of Florida. Data from the Department of Education.

As all these choice options increase, enrollment in traditional public schools across the state declined by 55,000 students between 2019-20 and this year, state data shows. But enrollment has not declined everywhere. While Duval County lost thousands of students, enrollment increased by more than 7,700 students in neighboring St. John’s County, the state’s top-ranked school district.

“Money follows the student and the family. It’s not embedded in a certain system or structure,” DeSantis said in April when asked about possible school closures in Duval. “And so the student and the family will make those decisions.”

In Miami-Dade, about 15,000 new students are expected to receive state education funding this fall. But all of that growth is flowing to private and charter schools, leaving Miami Dade Public Schools bracing for a decline of more than 4,000 students next year.

What on paper may seem like a “great story” for a school district actually represents a sizable drop in enrollment, Ron Steiger, chief financial officer for Miami Dade Public Schools, told school board members during a meeting. Workshop on May 22.

“These students are not ours,” he said.

The state’s scholarship program is expected to grow, which could cause more students to drop out of traditional public schools. While most of the new scholarship recipients already attended private schools, there is room for 82,000 more statewide – nearly 217,000 in total – to attend private schools or find a different schooling option at state expense in the next academic year.

Additionally, there will be an additional 22,000 scholarships available for families who choose to homeschool – up to 40,000 – and an additional 16,000 for students with special needs, according toprojections from state economists.

School districts face decline

While school leaders in Miami are not considering closing schools amid declining enrollment, the district is preparing to repurpose several campuses. The plans are already angry parents who care about the appearance of their new schools.

And the growth of school choice programs in Duval County is a key factor behind the budget crisis plaguing the school district, according to school officials.

Traditional public schools in the area are expected to enroll about 10,000 fewer students in 2024-25 compared to five years ago, according to Dana Kriznar, interim superintendent of Duval County Public Schools.

As with Broward, school leaders in Duval are pushing to consolidate and close schools due to declining enrollment, and are preparing to cut more than 700 positions. The district is also expected to run out of federal COVID-19 dollars and is dealing with rising construction costs forpreviously planned projectsincreasing the budget crisis.

Local communities are fighting to avoid cuts. Near Florida’s Atlantic coast and surrounded by palm trees, Atlantic Beach Elementary has served generations of Floridians in the area north of Jacksonville since 1939 with a unique art deco style. But it is one of many in danger of closing in Duval County, prompting Atlantic Beach city commissioners to pass a resolution to save their “little pink school” from ruin.

However, even if the Duval school board spares the classic pink campus, or Broward retreats from Virginia Shuman Young Elementary, changes and closures will still occur at traditional public schools in these areas.

“It’s a financial decision we’re making, but we’re also not making it without compassion and community involvement,” Duval County School Board member Charlotte Joyce said during a recent workshop meeting. “If we don’t do something about this problem, then it could be the end of traditional public education in Duval County.”