As enrollment continues to decline, Broward County Public Schools is proposing another round of school closures. Last year, it was seven, and this time, 10 schools are on the list. 

“No one on this board wants to hurt the communities that we represent,” said school board chair Sarah Leonardi at Tuesday’s school board meeting. “Everyone up here understands this is an extremely painful process for everyone involved.”

With 60,000 empty seats, the school board and superintendent say they have to close and consolidate more schools to “right-size” the district. 

“It is a tough decision for myself and also for the board, but we have to be fiscally responsible at the same time. We’ve lost 11,000 students from day one of last year to day one of this school year,” said superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn.

Falling enrollment is an issue nationwide. In South Florida, Miami-Dade County Public Schools is experiencing it, and charter schools are losing kids as well. Hepburn says it’s fueled by low birth rates, the high cost of living driving families out of the area, much less immigration, and school choice competition.

These are the schools being considered for closure: 

1. Banyan Elementary School
2. Coral Springs Elementary School
3. Silver Lakes Elementary School
4. Dolphin Bay Elementary School
5. Hollywood Park Elementary School
6. Lloyd Estates Elementary School
7. Oakridge Elementary School
8. Forest Glen Middle School
9. Walter C. Young Middle School
10. William Dandy Middle School

If your child goes to one of those schools, this process can be a tough pill to swallow. 

“What exists at Hollywood Park is more than a building, it’s a culture of excellence – the teachers, the staff, the program, you can feel the commitment every day,” parent Alberto Entrena said to the school board at the meeting.

“I’ve said often, it costs us more to operate an underenrolled school than the amount of money that we actually spend on instruction for our students,” Hepburn said at a news conference after the meeting.

One parent told the board her child’s experience is better since her old school closed and consolidated this year with another campus. 

“My child’s class is smaller and this year they have media, PE, music and art,” Jenna Williams said.

That’s how it’s supposed to work. The district says that when schools are fully populated and receiving funding from the state for each student enrolled, the district can afford to provide resources to those schools. In fact, board member Allen Zeman says closing 10 isn’t enough; he wants to shut down 27 schools.   

“Under my plan, there’d still be 171 schools in Broward County, but they would be fully resourced; they would be optimized for learning,” Zeman said. “We would take the schools that we close and build workforce and affordable housing everywhere we could.”

Zeman says building affordable housing on district-owned land is the best way to increase enrollment in the long term. 

The board did not vote on anything Tuesday. The process is just starting, but they will vote on a school consolidation plan in December.