Orange County Public Schools cuts $8.5 million amid enrollment drop
Orlando Sentinel | By: Steven Walker | September 3, 2026
Orange County Public Schools will cut $8.5 million from its budget this fall because almost 8,000 fewer students are enrolled now compared to the end of the last academic year, according to a memo sent to staff and families Wednesday.
The cuts should not lead to any teachers losing their jobs, an OCPS spokesperson said, but could mean instructors are moved from one campus to another in coming weeks. Vacant positions could also be eliminated.
Final decisions about where in the budget to trim the $8.5 million have not been made, said spokesperson Michael Ollendorff Thursday.
“Staff are continuing to review central office budgets and identify potential areas where those reductions can be achieved,” Ollendorff wrote in a statement.
OCPS’s proposed operating budget for the 2026-27 school year is about $7.9 billion, meaning a $8.5 million cut represents a small sliver, or about 0.1%, of the district’s overall spending.
But the memo prompted worry and outrage among OCPS teachers on social media.
On a Facebook page for OCPS teachers, one instructor, writing anonymously, said they were concerned about how the cuts could impact their school in the years ahead.
“We don’t know what the future of our school is looking like. Frankly, it’s looking pretty scary. And we’ve been a part of this community since the 50s,” they wrote
In its memo to staff, the district noted that a loss of students meant a loss of per-pupil funding from the state. It also said it was struggling to afford its share of employee health insurance benefits, which tally $20 million a month.
OCPS took steps ahead of the school year anticipating a large drop in enrollment, including eliminating 200 district-level positions and cutting 5% from budgets across district departments. But the enrollment loss has been steeper, requiring additional cuts, it said.
In its memo, OCPS also said its current impasse with the teachers union over health insurance was placing “significant pressure” on the district to make additional budget cuts.
This year, the district is pushing for a new healthcare model in an effort to alleviate a potential, and “unsustainable,” $145 million budget shortfall. But the teachers union says the district’s healthcare proposal passes much of the burden on to teachers, and that most employees would end up taking home less money because they’d pay far more for insurance.
The two sides could not reach an agreement during bargaining sessions, so a magistrate heard arguments from both in July. The district and the union are now waiting for that magistrate’s report, which will contain non-binding recommendations for how to proceed. A final decision will be up to the Orange County School Board.
Clinton McCracken, the president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, said the district’s memo unfairly tried to “blame teachers” and the union for the new round of cuts.
“Teachers shouldn’t be asked to choose between affordable health care and keeping educators in our schools,” he said.
McCracken said he feared the new cuts would lead to teacher layoffs and thinks OCPS should look instead to reduce the ranks of high-paid district administrators.
Enrollment in OCPS has dropped by more than 15,000 students in the last four years, with elementary schools hit the hardest. A loss of about 5,000 students last year prompted the closure of seven schools. District officials have said no closures were planned for this school year.
District officials cite declining birth rates, immigrant families pulling their children from schools and the increased availability of taxpayer-funded vouchers for private school tuition or homeschooling as factors.
In Orange, voucher use increased by an estimated 3,100 students this year, according to state estimates.
