Broward Schools

Tuesday’s workshop meeting drew a large crowd of parents, students and local officials from various elementary schools on the list of possible closures, including Dolphin Bay, Lloyd Estates and Sherman Park, who oppose closing their school.

Parents oppose the change because they want to keep their neighborhood elementary school, according to Abigail Greaves, a Dolphin Bay parent and organizer.

By subsidizing tuition costs for the classes, the School Board hopes to make early learning more accessible to families and, as a result, attract more families to help level enrollment losses.

For over two decades, the Overtown Youth Center has served as a needed safe haven for students in the historic neighborhood — providing families with academic, financial, and health services. It's now expanding to south Broward County in partnership with Broward schools.

Three times a year, Florida students are given the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking, or FAST, to monitor individual student progress in English and language arts and mathematics. In Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, proficiency in grades for both categories rose from last year.

If voters approve the Nov. 3 referendum, the distribution of the money would be determined through negotiations between union bargaining groups and the school district.

As South Florida school districts predicting dwindling enrollment into next school year, the steady decline in birth rate will contribute to the dramatic year-to-year student loss.

Since 2024, data shows an upward trend in passing rates for the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking, or FAST. Despite improvement, gaps still remain across race and ethnic groups.

Two years into an ambitious plan to deal with plummeting enrollment counts in Broward County schools, Superintendent Howard Hepburn told WLRN he did not know how many more would be shut — but said they are "halfway there" in saving the $100 million targeted. He also played down Gov. Ron DeSantis' claims that the district is a "disaster" — and had a message for families fearful of immigration enforcement.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the Broward public school district is “a disaster” being run to benefit “the entrenched interests, particularly the school unions, rather than the parents and the students,” and that the state should consider taking it over.

Broward has 10,000 fewer students than it did last year, digging a budget hole of $94 million in the district. In five years, Broward County Public Schools is looking at a projected loss of over 25,000 students, according to district data.

The district hosted a series of community meetings in September to gather feedback from families and anxieties about potential impacts, including how students with special needs might be affected. Tuesday's meeting recapped the findings and potential strategies.