"Constant" testing of students. A lack of mental health resources. Teachers who are stretched way too thin. Kids who are falling through the cracks.
Those were some of the concerns raised at a town hall meeting at Fort Lauderdale High School Thursday evening on how the Broward County school district should address years of declining enrollments.
Broward County Public Schools has lost 24,000 students in the last decade alone — amounting to a loss of more than $200 million in revenue a year.
Some two hundred parents, educators, students and community members filed into the auditorium at Fort Lauderdale High School Thursday night to voice their concerns about how Broward County Public Schools should handle declining enrollments and competition with charter and private schools.
READ MORE: Declining enrollment means Broward schools have to change. Here’s how to shape those decisions
It was the first in a series of town hall meetings put on by Superintendent Peter Licata and his administration, as they reckon with one of the biggest challenges the district has faced in recent years — closing or repurposing at least five schools in the 2025-2026 school year. Potentially dozens more could follow in the years to come.
“Some of these options may make people feel uneasy at first,” Licata said. “However, we must have the courage to have difficult discussions and make tough decisions. If we do, we will create opportunities to reinvest in our mission.”
Between declines in enrollment, larger demographic shifts in the county’s population and a booming market for alternatives to public schools, BCPS officials say the time has come to strategically assess how and where the district is spending its resources. As Licata has put it, “empty seats are not worth our money."
"We must have the courage to have difficult discussions and make tough decisions. If we do, we will create opportunities to reinvest in our mission.”Broward Schools Superintendent Peter Licata
Standing on the auditorium stage at Fort Lauderdale High, Licata gave brief remarks laying out why BCPS needs to take these steps.
According to BCPS calculations, there are more than 54,000 empty seats in classrooms across the district, due to a years-long decline in families sending their children to public schools. BCPS is expected to lose 4,300 more students from its traditional public schools next year too, according to state projections.
The strategies the district could take to respond include:
- creating “full choice” schools
- changing the grade configuration of schools
- combining or merging schools
- changing school attendance boundaries
- closing schools
- repurposing schools for community use
- selling or leasing school property
After Licata’s comments, district staff divided the attendees up into separate focus groups. Using an online survey tool, attendees gave their thoughts anonymously on questions like what officials should consider when closing or combining schools — and then they were able to give feedback on other people’s comments too.
Passionate and emotional discussions
Discussions in the focus groups were passionate and emotional at times, with parents, teachers and community members voicing long-held frustrations with the district and the historic forces that brought it to this moment.
Shawnnette Longley teaches psychology at West Broward High School, where she says she's better known by her students as Ms. Rim.
“I think the focus should be, yes it is student first, student-driven. But it also needs to be focused on the teachers. Because if we are not right, you're not going to get performance. Period.”Shawnnette Longley, a Broward teacher.
“Let’s put it like this, if you don't have any teachers, you have nothing,” Longley said. “So I think the focus should be, yes it is student first, student-driven. But it also needs to be focused on the teachers. Because if we are not right, you're not going to get performance. Period.”
She says that high-stakes testing and restrictive laws handed down from Tallahassee are pushing educators to a breaking point — and thereby undermining the entire public school system.
“Let’s put it like this, if you don't have any teachers, you have nothing,” Longley said. “So I think the focus should be, yes it is student first, student-driven. But it also needs to be focused on the teachers. Because if we are not right, you're not going to get performance. Period.”
Although no schools have been flagged for closure or consolidation yet, BCPS has released a list of dozens of schools that meet the district’s definition of under-enrolled — operating at below 70% capacity.
As the South Florida Sun Sentinel has reported, many of the schools are located in the cities of Pembroke Pines and Miramar in the southern part of the county — communities that are home to a large proportion of Black and Latino families. There are also clusters of low enrollment schools in Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood.
There are concerns that minority communities — who have long suffered due to systemic racism and inequality — could take the biggest hit in consolidating or closing schools.
“We cannot put [B]lack and brown students at a further disadvantage,” reads an anonymous post from one survey respondent.
Another attendee highlighted that comment, saying “it’s always the inner city schools that get affected. Always.”
“One of the easiest fixes is do what you did in the 60s, 70s, and 80s! Boundaries,” he added, referring to forced school desegregation and busing programs that followed the Civil Rights Movement.
“You’re going to tick some people off when you do it, but that’s the easiest solution.”
Broward County officials say they’re committed to equity as they decide which schools to close or combine.
“We cannot put [B]lack and brown students at a further disadvantage."Anonymous post from a workshop survey respondent.
Licata has argued that strategically consolidating or even closing schools will make the district more equitable — by maximizing the district’s financial resources. Under-enrolled schools often have fewer electives and instructional resources, he pointed out.
While officials are looking for other cost savings outside of the school setting — including in the district’s administrative offices — there’s a certain amount of sunken costs required to run a school. Which is why Licata says the district can no longer afford to run so many partially-full schools.
For instance, instead of continuing to operate two neighboring schools at 50% capacity, the district could combine them and repurpose or sell the empty campus — saving substantially on utilities, maintenance and some staffing costs.
The district is continuing to take community feedback on its “Redefining Our Schools” initiative. Two more town halls are scheduled for:
- Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024 at 6 p.m. at J.P. Taravella High School
- Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 at 6 p.m. at Charles W. Flanagan High School
