South Florida schools enrollment declines: Miami-Dade school board to discuss sharp drop in students
By Tynisa Senior, Olivia DiVenti, Faith Graham
With thousands fewer students enrolled in South Florida schools, public schools are grappling with the shrinking budgets — threatening teacher pay, advanced programs, and student services — and the Miami Dade School Board is the latest to discuss the troubling decline in enrollment.
The dramatic drop is sparking concerns for school boards in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools officials reported nearly 12,000 fewer students this year compared to the 2024-25 school year.
This year’s numbers reflect a staggering 236,519 in student enrollment while the previous record was 248,949 students.
A decline in enrollment threatens the future of our schools and students’ next phases of life as Advanced Placement classes, and study abroad programs will likely diminish.
Additionally, teacher’s jobs are put at risk due to funding cuts.
On Wednesday, M-DPCS Superintendent Dr. Jose L. Dotres hosted a roundtable talk to address the 4% decrease, but he most notably mentioned that he thinks that the margin will shrink from new enrollment.
The district anticipated 5,000 fewer students this year, but was met with the stark contrast of 13,000 less.
The superintendent stressed that these numbers will regulate, as 300 students have registered in the district since Tuesday.
Officials said the main factors for the plummeting numbers are the significant decrease in the number of newcomers and families leaving South Florida due to the high cost of living.
Therefore, with a huge decrease in students, the district needs to strategize ways to save money.
“I can tell you we’re gonna probably reduce our hourly personnel. We’re going to put a stop and minimize overtime. We are not going to approve travel that impacts our general fund and anything related to that we are basically going to have to really restrict in order for us to sustain the staffing that we were able to create at the beginning of the year,” said Dotres.
The superintendent stressed that he doesn’t want to relieve anyone of duty.
Broward County is also seeing a sharp decline in enrollment.
Last year, there were 200,240 students enrolled, while only 191,507 enrolled this year. The district is down 3.8% in student enrollment.
A school board meeting was held on Tuesday to address the district’s troubling numbers, as well as the future of 34 schools that could potentially be consolidated or close.
“Upon looking at the numbers for the middle school and the elementary school, it became apparent to me that we could probably house all of the elementary kids that are currently in Dania Elementary within Olsen Middle School,” said Broward County School Board member Adam Cervera.
However, nothing was finalized regarding the future of those 34 schools, and more discussions are expected in the future.