Education

First day of school in Broward sees enrollment drop by 11,000 students

WLRN Public Media | By Natalie La Roche Pietri

Published August 10, 2026 at 5:19 PM EDT

Board chair Sarah Leonardi (left), superintendent Howard Hepburn (podium), board member Allen Zeman (center right) and board vice chair Jeff Holness (right) at a furst day of school conference Monday, Aug. 10, 2026.

The first day of the school year in Broward County saw 11,000 fewer students compared to last year's first day, superintendent Howard Hepburn said Monday.

There are about 180,000 students districtwide. It is the sixth-largest school district in the nation and second largest in Florida.

"We're hoping that students continue to show up," Hepburn said at a press conference to mark the first day of classes.

Dwindling enrollment means a smaller budget for the district. The 11,000 fewer students as the school year opens equates to about $100 million less funding.

"We've budgeted for the expected decline for the majority of this," he said. "We hope that enrollment continues to climb, and that we're not in the red, but we kind of climb up into black."

Last December, the district released a memo of what it predicted enrollment projections would be like every school year up until the 2030-31 year. That analysis predicted the 2026-27 year, would have 5,000 fewer students — meaning the district's predictions were off by some 6,000 students.

Enrollment in charter schools also dropped, Hepburn said, having about 2,100 fewer students on this first day compared to last year's.

Temporary Protected Status for Haitians

Federal changes to immigration policies have also affected schools district enrollment in South Florida.

At a recent budget hearing, Hepburn voiced his concern that the termination of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for thousands of Haitian immigrants could significantly affect the school district's enrollment.

Florida is home to 113,000 Haitian TPS holders — the most of any state. South Florida has the nation's largest concentration of Haitians in the country.

" Broward County Public Schools is probably the safest environment for our students," Hepburn said Monday. " Any law enforcement agency, they have to have court orders to come in our school and remove a student, and we haven't had that happen yet since the whole immigration policies have been implemented."

Broward County Public Schools plans to release a benchmark enrollment report Sept. 14 with a comprehensive breakdown by student sub-group.