The Florida school closure epidemic hit Liz Wetstein with a double-whammy. She not only lost her family’s school but possibly her job.
The teacher learned on May 11 that Broward County Public Schools would close Panther Run Elementary in Pembroke Pines, the school all four of her kids have attended and where she has taught for two years. Currently, her youngest attends third grade.
She watched Panther Run whither away to 290 students — 488 under capacity — as this school year comes to a close. “We’ve seen it go down little by little each year,” Wetstein said. “We love our little school. As Cheers would say, everybody knows your name.”
Florida public schools find themselves in the grip of declining birthrates, families driven out of the state by the high cost of living, and the drain of dollars and students to private and charter schools — as well as the political climate.
“Our public schools are in crisis right now in Florida,” said Demaris Allen, executive director for Families for Strong Public Schools. “We are seeing it hit a point where they can’t function under the shortages they have been given.”
What Florida areas are hit hardest by school closures and staff cuts?
Broward County announced it was closing six schools, experiencing a 40,000-student drop in the last decade, but there isn’t a part of the state that is immune, including:
The state allocates on average $8,000 to $9,000 per student to districts. Broward lost a staggering 10,000 students in one year and the loss wiped out $90 million in funds.
As a result, the school district is looking to perform a pincer move where it closes schools and eliminates 1,000 positions — 300 staffers in filled positions will be laid off — to address the deficit.
Sometimes, there are small victories. Parents, students and the Broward Teachers Union teamed up to lobby the school board to spare Bair Middle School in Sunrise where one of the students showed up as the bear mascot — yes they are the Bair Bears.
“I love the good fight, but literally I cry every day,” said Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union.
What are Florida school counselors saying about cuts?
Vanessa Matute is a licensed mental health counselor and student support specialist who fears losing her job. She told the Broward school board at its May 11 meeting that the funding reduction “means eliminating staff members who work directly and consistently with high-risk students every single day.”
“When students are overwhelmed, anxious, failing classes, struggling at home, or experiencing suicidal thoughts, they come to us.”
With fewer services available in public schools, families naturally look for alternatives, whether that be a charter or the neighborhood parochial school.
“When you start draining resources from public schools and they have less services to offer, such as counseling, mental health or whatever, parents are like, ‘I need to get my kid the best education, so I’m going to take him out of public school,” Allen said.
Are Florida’s affluent communities affected by dwindling enrollment?
The crisis has hit even affluent communities like Key Biscayne, where Robert Duzuglou, head of the Village’s Education Advisory Board, described the situation as a “funding death spiral” as it sees the island’s only public school “die on the vine.”
Key Biscayne’s K-8 school is operating at 69% capacity as residents opt for not just private and charter schools, but a magnet school on Virginia Key that drains middle-schoolers.
“It affects everything — our real estate values, our community,” Duzuglou told the Key Biscayne Village Council at its March 13 meeting.
Allen said closing a school can be like ripping the heart out of a neighborhood. When the Hillsborough School District considered closing Morgan Woods Elementary in Tampa, parents rallied to keep it open.
“Morgan Woods was near a large property that had a community center, that had a park, all of these things,” she said. “For that community, it wasn’t just a loss of the school, it was a loss of a real hub for the community.”
Wetstein said she and husband chose Pembroke Pines to live for the quality and proximity of Panther Run. “We have a lot of students who walk to school,” she said.
Escambia County schools face significant reductions
A looming budget crisis in Escambia Schools has forced its school board to take a serious look at closing schools and cutting staff, after several years of declining enrollment.
The district has already frozen all but emergency position openings and reduced travel, but it’s not enough to stem the loss of students fleeing the district to join local charter schools.
ECPS is projecting a total loss of about 7,000 students to scholarships heading into the 2026-27 school year.
“For the current fiscal year, it was in the neighborhood of the 6,200, 6,300 (students). Years ago it was in the hundreds, and then it went up to the thousands, where it is now. It was just a real quick loss of students,” said Terry St. Cyr, Escambia County Public Schools assistant superintendent of finance and business.
Superintendent Keith Leonard said administrators plan to bring ideas to the school board during the 2026-27 school year, but the actions could be part of a three-year plan and would save ECPS money without jeopardizing the quality of students’ education.
Birthrates, population declines are driving Florida enrollment dropoffs
Florida’s birth rate dropped to a record low of 9.54 per 1,000 residents, falling below the national average and continuing its steady decline from 12.3 per 1,000 residents in 2002.
Furthermore, the cost of living in the Sunshine State — especially for families with young kids — has become untenable. Florida still gained 22,517 residents in 2025, but it is down significantly from 183,646 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Florida’s cost-of-living rate has nearly quintupled since 2020, according to a new Florida TaxWatch analysis.
For teachers, it’s even harder. Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, the largest teacher’s union, said that in 2010 a veteran teacher in his former school district made $60,000 a year. Today, that same teacher makes $62,000.
Wetstein must now decide whether she wants to remain in teaching after Panther Run closes. “I’m waiting to find out if I can get a job at my son’s new school. Otherwise, I’m going to have to step back and maybe go look for a new career,” she said.
How has Florida politics played a role in fewer students?
Looming over the crisis is politics.
Migrant families have stopped sending their kids to school as immigration enforcement has increased. “I heard from the superintendent in Orange County and some other superintendents as well, the number of migrant students has dropped significantly,” Spar said.
Spar said the state’s own numbers show that “migrant students are driving a lot of this too.”
The Republican-led Legislature, Spar said, put gasoline on the fire with its universal voucher, passed in 2023, that made every Florida student eligible for that $9,000, regardless of income.
The FEA filed suit in May, claiming the state is failing its duty to provide a “uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high-quality system of free public schools” by redirecting billions in public education dollars to private and charter schools.
“Funding is being diverted out of public schools to these unaccountable, corporate-run charter schools,” he said.
A Florida Auditor General audit in November found the state lost track of $398 million in voucher funding and thousands of students using the program.
The state Department of Education, when reached for comment on school enrollment declines, referred all questions back to the school districts.
In April, Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas sent a letter to St. Johns Schools Superintendent Brennan Asplen alleging Asplen had pressured staff to vote against specific legislators who supported school vouchers.
Spar said all Asplen did was explain to teachers why the district was going to have to make staff cuts. “And he (Kamoutsas) was enraged that the superintendent had the audacity to do that, to let people know, to inform them about what’s going on,” Spar said.
John Pacenti is the Government Impact Reporter for The USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY at https://palmbeachpost.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida school closures spread as enrollment plunges statewide
Reporting by John Pacenti/USA Today Network-Florida, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Pensacola News Journal
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