Enrollment in Palm Beach County schools dropped by nearly 7,000 students, according to an annual district report.
The bulk of the decline was in district-run K-12 schools, but charter schools also saw a decrease of 969 fewer students compared to last year's annual report.
The Palm Beach County School District, among the nation's 10 biggest school systems, faces the same downward trend as school districts in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
State funding depends on student enrollment figures. Last year's enrollment drop in Palm Beach County was also about 7,000 students, digging a hole of $66 million in the district budget.
Adding this school year's thinning enrollment, the district could be looking at $100 million or more in state funding losses.
READ MORE: Miami-Dade County Schools shrunk by about 19,000 students at start of school year, data shows
Reduced budgets affect academic programs, resources and staffing.
"As is standard practice each year, we are currently realigning staffing levels to reflect enrollment," a district spokesperson said in a statement to WLRN. A hiring freeze will also be implemented.
Superintendent Mike Burke at the start of the school year said the district predicted an enrollment drop of about 2,900 students, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
In July, the district laid off all its media clerks, who assisted in the day-to-day operations of school libraries.
The position of media clerk was scrapped, leading to 76 jobs being eliminated, to save the district more than $3.3 million in the face of a budget deficit driven largely by the state funding loss.
Lower immigration to the area, a historically low birth rate nationwide and the rising cost of living in Palm Beach County are contributing factors to the school enrollment decline.
Rampant immigration enforcement in Palm Beach County have communities on edge, especially following the termination of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haitians. There are about 158,000 Haitian TPS holders in Florida.
“Every young person has a right to a free and appropriate education, and we want to provide it, so we want to alleviate any fears that may be out there," Burke said in a press conference at the start of the school year.
Under federal law, school districts can't ask families about their immigration or residency status.
‘All students’ are affected
A national education expert on immigrant students recently told WLRN that enrollment will continue to drop under the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation agenda and changes to immigration policies like TPS, resulting in less money for public schools.
“New students bring new funding to schools. That means that schools get more resources that benefit not just those students — the newcomer students — but all students,” said Alejandra Vázquez Baur, of EdTrust, a national nonprofit working to close opportunity and achievement gaps in education. She also co-founded the National Newcomer Network.
“Less money means fewer calculators and books, less after-school programming and partnerships with local organizations to provide really cool field trips and things like that,” she said.
