Martin County Schools unique programs like robotics hope to attract students out of county

CBS 12 | By Tiffany Rizzo | February 25, 2025

MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — Martin County School District is seeing a decrease in students, so they’re expanding school choice options to families living outside of the county. They hope their unique programs will draw more students in, like Sean Dennet’s robotics class at Murray Middle School.

“You get to learn about coding and different structural benefits of a robot,” Robotics club member Oliver Botta said. Seventh grader Aiden Smith added, “You’ve got to think about what to do. You’ve got to have lots of problem solving.” “My favorite part has to be spending time with my friends and just doing what I love in general, just building,” 8th grade robotics club member Landon Kodare said.

Building, operating and competing, by having the robot accomplish tasks. “They actually have to code it and program it and they have to do it within a certain time frame,” Mr. Dennett said.

Dennet is teaching skill’s students plan to take with them after they graduate. “I want to work in automotive engineering when I grow up, so I think learning all this, like the coding, the building, everything about it will just help me with, like, all my careers,” Smith said.

This is just one of the several unique programs the district hopes will bring more students to their schools. “Computer science, criminal justice, culinary, you name it, we have it,” Martin County School District spokesperson Derek Lowe said.

While Florida is growing, Lowe said they’re seeing a decrease in their enrollment. “The families that are moving here aren’t necessarily what we call school aged families. It’s a lot of older families their kids have already aged out of public schools, retirees.”

So, to fill their classes up, specifically for middle and elementary school, they open school choice to students outside the county. Lowe said each student in the district is associated with a little over $8,000 in funding, which means more money for the school’s programs.

“We have the room one, we have the staff two, and the money is following that student, so the more kids we have in our seats, the more funding we have in our budget and the more services and programs we can offer to all of our kids,” Lowe said.

Beginning March 1, students living inside or outside of Martin County can apply for any of the schools designated as School Choice or Controlled Open Enrollment. If you decide to attend a school out of your zone, you have to provide your own transportation.