school enrollment

Enrollment dropped by 5.6%, a larger decline than the 5% drop recorded on last year’s benchmark enrollment day. The seats lost become part of the more than 60,000 empty seats in the district.

" To me, this is not a job — it's a calling. A calling to build upon all that we have accomplished together and to lead Miami-Dade County Public Schools into the next chapter," Rafael Villalobos told a crowd of 300 people at his installation ceremony.

The district is hosting a handful of community meetings to hear from residents about what they think of the plans for their neighborhood schools' futures.

Some members of the Florida Board of Governors and other university leaders hope the Florida Legislature will backtrack on a last-minute policy that ties their budgets to a limit on out-of-state enrollment.

A document released Tuesday by the Attendance Boundary Committee named 12 schools that are being “reassessed” and 15 that are “under review.”

The potential closures are in Coral Springs, Hollywood, Miramar, Oakland Park, Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke Pines.

According to district data shared with WLRN, the number of registered K-12 students on the first day of school — Thursday, Aug. 13 — was 300,509. Last spring, the district had 319,419 students, according to the Florida Department of Education.

The district, the nation's sixth-largest with 187,800 students, could see its enrollment drop given how many Haitian families in South Florida may be forced to leave to avoid deportation.

The proposed cuts are estimated to save about $54 million. Superintendent Howard Hepburn and some school board members have often spoken about the need downsize district staff to make it proportional to shrinking student enrollment.

The Florida Department of Education appointed a financial board to both Union and Glades counties' school districts to help with "operations, management and finances and to make recommendations for financial recovery."

Facing a budget hole of $94 million in the district due to having 10,000 fewer students than it did last year, the changes are estimated to result in saving up to $12 million for the sixth largest school district in the country.

The data that can be shared with publicly-funded, privately-run charter schools can include academic histories, disability status and disciplinary records. Beyond the charter operator, the information may also land in the hands of third-party vendors, according to speakers at a recent virtual conference.