Flor­ida’s largest dis­tricts con­tinue los­ing stu­dents

The largest five school dis­tricts in Flor­ida have seen a col­lect­ive enroll­ment decline of nearly 68,000 stu­dents from the 2023-24 school year through the 2025-26 school year, accord­ing to Feb­ru­ary fig­ures com­piled by the Lee County School Dis­trict as it pre­pares its annual budget.

Lee County is not among the largest five school dis­tricts, but, it too, has lost enroll­ment. From 2024-25 to 2025-26, the dis­trict’s enroll­ment is down 1,946 non-charter school stu­dents and 369 charter stu­dents, a total decline of 2,315 stu­dents.

The state of Flor­ida alloc­ates fund­ing to school dis­tricts based in part on enroll­ment, and dis­tricts with declin­ing enroll­ment are craft­ing budgets with an anti­cip­ated loss of state fund­ing. That loss of fund­ing will mean shuttered schools and frozen or elim­in­ated teacher pos­i­tions.

Here is a closer look at the state’s largest school dis­tricts, based on the fig­ures com­piled by the Lee County School Dis­trict in its budget devel­op­ment:

Miami-Dade schools’ enroll­ment

The state’s largest school dis­trict had a 2025-26 enroll­ment of 319,419 stu­dents, accord­ing to a Feb­ru­ary count obtained by the Lee County School Dis­trict.

Miami-Dade’s enroll­ment is down by 20,476 stu­dents from 2023-24 to 2025-26. That’s the largest enroll­ment decline in the state and includes a drop of 22,235 non-charter school stu­dents and an increase of 1,759 charter school stu­dents.

Miami-Dade is con­sid­er­ing the clos­ure or repur­pos­ing of nine schools.

Broward schools’ stu­dent decline

The Broward County School Dis­trict had a 2025-26 enroll­ment of 234,324 stu­dents, accord­ing to the Lee County fig­ures.

From 2023-24 through 2025-26, Broward saw declines in non-charter and charter enroll­ment. Non­charter enroll­ment was down 16,467 stu­dents, and charter enroll­ment was down 1,260 stu­dents, a total decline of 17,727 stu­dents.

Dis­trict offi­cials say they expect to close or repur­pose at least 10 Broward County schools.

Hills­bor­ough schools: Tampa area also see­ing enroll­ment shrink

The Hills­bor­ough County School Dis­trict had a 2025-26 enroll­ment of 211,555 stu­dents.

Like Broward, it lost both non-charter school stu­dents and charter school stu­dents.

From 2023-24 through 2025-26, Hills­bor­ough had a total enroll­ment decline of 12,311 stu­dents, accord­ing to the Lee County fig­ures. That included 12,120 non­charter school stu­dents and 191 charter school stu­dents.

Hills­bor­ough could close three schools this upcom­ing school year.

Orange

The Orange County School Dis­trict had a 2025-26 enroll­ment of 200,529 stu­dents, accord­ing to Lee County fig­ures.

Orange had an enroll­ment decline of 8,090 stu­dents from the 2023-24 school year through the 202526 school year.

Non-charter school enroll­ment was down by 8,649 stu­dents over that time period while the charter school enroll­ment grew by 559 stu­dents.

Orange is con­sid­er­ing the clos­ure or repur­pos­ing of seven schools.

Palm Beach County

The Palm Beach County School Dis­trict had a 2025-26 enroll­ment of 183,711 stu­dents, accord­ing to the Feb­ru­ary count Lee County obtained.

Palm Beach’s enroll­ment is down by 8,939 stu­dents from 2023-24 through 2025-26. That includes a drop of 8,013 in non-charter school enroll­ment, and a drop of 926 in charter school enroll­ment.