Enrollment is down in all but one of Central Florida’s public school districts this year, with most blaming the state’s universal voucher program for siphoning away students and funds.
Public schools in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia, Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Marion and Polk counties all had lower school enrollment during the first few weeks of school when compared to last year’s enrollment numbers.
Only Sumter has higher enrollment numbers, which reports 375 more students this year.
Most districts are blaming Florida’s universal voucher program, which pays for eligible students to receive a fully funded private or home school education.
The universal voucher program took effect during the 2023-2024 school year, and now, more students in Florida attend a school of choice rather than their neighborhood public school, according to Step Up for Students, a nonprofit that distributes school choice scholarships.
Volusia County schools says “scholarships, PEP scholarships, private schools, etc.” are to blame for the drop in enrollment. Seminole County Schools says the decline is due to "a combination of factors, including declining birthrate and universal school choice,” which is a term used to describe the policy behind the creation of voucher programs.
Governor Ron DeSantis, who supports school choice, said this competition between public and private schools for students is a good thing.
“I think it's healthy that a school is going to be in a situation where, if a charter school is offering better programs and the parents have more confidence, and they're losing students to that, then they're going to have to do something to earn the trust of those parents back,” said DeSantis.
He pointed to improved school grades, progress monitoring scores, and graduation rates throughout the state as evidence of this competition.
Watch the press conference on Success Academy:
More of that competition is coming. Success Academy, which is based in New York City, announced plans to expand to Florida. The schools, which have been criticized for their approach to discipline, will open first in Miami but are expected to expand throughout the state into Orlando in the near future, according to DeSantis.
Growing concern over voucher program
Educational experts warn decreasing enrollment in public schools could hurt the state’s most vulnerable students, leading to layoffs, larger classroom sizes, fewer resources in special education and gifted classrooms, and even school closures.
“When you start talking about potentially having to close schools in a community, you're devaluing that community, you're taking out the center of that community, and that should be very concerning,” said Andrew Spar, the president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest association of education professionals.
Last month, Orange County school leaders made the case in Orlando and at the national level on Capitol Hill for giving more funding to Central Florida’s public schools as the voucher program siphons off funding for the district. Orange County Schools has lost the most students of any school district in Central Florida this year at 7,000 fewer students this fall.
Some of those students were lost to vouchers. The district says others aren’t showing up to school over fear of ICE raids amidst ongoing immigration enforcement throughout the state, although none have been reported so far.
Here’s the number of students each district has lost based on the latest count performed in late August/early September:
Orange: 7,000
Osceola: 1,815
Seminole: 1,600
Brevard: 5,632
Volusia: 995
Flagler: 133
Lake: 358
Marion: 376
Polk: 319
According to the Florida Department of Education, 1.4 million students in Florida now attend a school of choice, with more than 500,000 attending a private school on a school voucher and 155,000 students are reportedly homeschooled in the state.
