Declining enrollment is forcing Orange County Public Schools to make staffing cuts for the next school year, eliminating more than 200 positions, most of them currently unfilled.
OCPS Deputy Superintendent Jose Martinez announced the district-level cuts in an email to staff on Sunday, citing sustained enrollment decline.
Martinez said the district-level cuts are happening before any reductions at the school level, because "leadership carries a responsibility to absorb the weight first." He said they should "confront the realities others are being asked to navigate."
“Over the past several years, our district has experienced sustained enrollment decline, a trend that is expected to continue,” Martinez wrote. “This has resulted in significantly reduced funding. In response, we have had to make decisions that reflect our current reality, not the one we wish we were still in.”
In a telephone interview Wednesday, OCPS Chief Communications Officer Scott Howat said the reductions are necessary to ensure a balanced budget.
"The staff reductions are a part of a 3% reduction at the district level that would include administrative positions and other potential program cuts, but at the district level, not at the school level," he said.
Hiring was already frozen for those jobs, Howat said. "We are going through the process of looking at all of those to see which positions were vacant versus which positions were actually filled with individuals that would be placed on an unassigned list."
They could be eligible for a different OCPS job.
The downward trend in enrollment -- and the loss of per-pupil funding -- is expected to continue.
Comparing district enrollment summaries from January of this year to January 2025 shows 6,786 fewer students, or a 3.3% drop in total enrollment.
The school year's final enrollment numbers and the financial hit are not yet clear. A district spokesman said enrollment was down about 5,000 and could be down by another 5,000 next year.
OCPS previously estimated declining enrollment would mean about $41 million less for 2025-26 operating budget.
Howat said the enrollment decline is tied to lower birth rates leading to smaller kindergarten classes, immigration policy, housing issues and Florida's universal voucher program.
The Orange County School Board previously decided that, going into the next school year, it would close seven schools with low student enrollment. Meanwhile, the district is planning to open new schools in Lake Nona and Horizon West.
