The Orange County School Board agreed Tuesday to allow the school district to begin the rezoning process for families at seven schools being considered for closure.
The schools that could close are Bonneville, Chickasaw, Eccleston, McCoy, Meadow Woods, and Orlo Vista elementary schools, and Union Park Middle School.
The board’s approval came at an hours-long school board work session on Tuesday night.
The board still needs to vote on rezoning plans and whether to close the schools at a meeting that will come in the new year.
But for now, OCPS Superintendent Maria Vazquez said the district can move ahead with the first steps of the rezoning process in January.
Vazquez said the district would hold community meetings addressing “why my school” and answer parents' questions from an earlier community meeting.
“And then we would have Student Enrollment produce potential maps about rezoning,” she said.
Families have been protesting the proposed school closures as disruptive to students and families and not the best choice for kids.
The district says a budget shortfall tied to under enrollment has forced their hands, but the School Board will still have the ultimate say in whether the schools are closed.
“In order for us to be able to begin the rezoning process, we need to start having those meetings in January,” Vazquez said.
Watch the full school board work session:
Although public comments weren’t allowed at the meeting, several board members shared their concerns with the plan. They said parents and community members didn’t have enough notice ahead of time from the district.
“We need to have that conversation with our families way ahead of time,” said Board Vice Chair Maria Salamanca. “They will do a lot to save their schools if we give them the opportunity to be those recruiters.”
Salamanca said her own elementary school is one of the seven that could be closed next school year.
If the schools are closed, the buildings won’t be sold off, at least not immediately. The district plan is to rent them out to microschools (small, flexible homeschool pods, which gained popularity during COVID-19) and to use them for other educational purposes.
Salamanca said what’s happening in the district is a wakeup call. She said families need to be given more options, different options in order to continue to choose public schools.
“And these are really touchy subjects for a variety of reasons, but we have to figure it out, because the trend is clear, and what we've been doing has not been working,” Salamanca said.
The district cited a number of factors, including low birthrates, under enrollment, and a budget shortfall of $41 million for these potential closures, along with the state’s universal voucher program.
It also said the seven schools were chosen due to under enrollment at the schools and because the buildings weren’t being used at their full capacity.
Here’s a table showing enrollment at the seven schools that could close. The data are from the district:
Student Enrollment vs Capacity - As of Dec. 15, 2025
