Enrollment in Central Florida’s public schools dropped by nearly 12,000 students this school year, according to pupil counts from the first 10 days of school, continuing a trend that has led to millions of dollars in funding cuts and the shuttering of some campuses.
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Orange County Superintendent Maria Vazquez said Tuesday her district was down 7,672 students — more than double the loss the state projected. Orange County Public Schools is the region’s largest school district and had the biggest enrollment drop locally when comparing the end of the last school year in May to the start of the current one.
Seminole County Public Schools and the School District of Osceola County each lost about 2,000 students, their 10-day counts show, while Lake County only lost about 200 students.
OCPS’s enrollment fell about 5,600 students last year, leading to a loss of about $50 million in per-pupil funding and the closure of seven schools.
But OCPS school leaders said they were braced for the enrollment declines in the 2026-27 school year and do not expect to close more campuses or significantly reduce staff that had already been whittled down last spring.
“The good news is that we are not going to see the number of layoffs that you would see with almost an 8,000 loss of students,” Vazquez told the Orange County School Board.
Public school enrollment declines are a statewide trend, with total student counts dropping by an estimated 70,000 students last year and projected to drop by about another 25,000 this year.
Broward County public schools lost 11,000 students this school year, for example, after losing about 10,000 the year before, and Miami-Dade Public Schools lost about 19,000 students this year, those districts reported.
Overall, Central Florida school districts dropped between 3% and 4% of their total enrollment to start the year. Ten days into the school year that started Aug. 10 and Aug. 11 in Central Florida, Orange County had about 170,000 traditional public school students, while Seminole had 55,465, Osceola had 51,784 and Lake had 41,838.
The local enrollment declines are mostly concentrated in local districts’ elementary schools. Officials cite declining birth rates, immigrant families who have left or pulled their children from schools and the increased availability of taxpayer-funded vouchers for private school tuition or homeschooling.
“The vouchers are having a tremendous impact on our enrollment,” Vazquez said.
In Orange, voucher use increased by an estimated 3,100 students this year, according to state estimates.
Florida expanded its voucher program in 2023, wiping out family income requirements, and making every K-12 student in Florida eligible for a scholarship to use for private school tuition or homeschool services. Voucher use has jumped sharply since then, with thousands of students leaving public schools for the new options. By 2030, voucher use statewide is expected to grow by another 32% to almost 700,000 students statewide, according to state projections.
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Orange school board member Angie Gallo, who was elected board chair last week and will take over the top seat later this fall, called the latest enrollment drop “disappointing.”
“This has become our new norm versus the exception until we get a handle on the taxpayer-funded vouchers,” she said.
Seminole was also impacted by vouchers, with state estimates showing an increase of more than 4,400 scholarships this year.
Most of that county’s losses were also in elementary schools, with Goldsboro, Lake Mary, and Casselberry elementary schools all losing almost 200 students each.
Like Orange, SCPS made cuts earlier this year, expecting further enrollment losses, which mean less per-pupil funding from the state.
Robin Dehlinger, the chair of the Seminole County School Board, said those steps have the district in a good position despite fewer students.
“We anticipated this, and, obviously, we’re trying to be proactive,” she said.
While the voucher program is an issue, changing demographics are too, Dehlinger said. A lot of the students “just aren’t there,” she added.
“People coming to the state are older people, retirees, and young people are leaving because they can’t afford to live here. Those are the people with children,” she said.
The district is still analyzing their ten-day counts and making adjustments to staffing, she said, but hopes no further cuts will be needed.
Lake’s drop of about 200 students, far smaller than in neighboring districts, likely reflects the limited number of private schools in the county, making vouchers less viable for many families, officials have said.
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