The Orange County (Florida) School Board has given final approval to close seven schools because of declining enrollment.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that the schools — Union Park Middle School and Bonneville, Chickasaw, Eccleston, Meadow Woods, McCoy and Orlo Vista elementary schools — will close their doors at the end of the 2025-26 academic year. The closures will affect about 3,200 students.
District leaders say additional closings may be in the offing, as soon as next year.
“If there was any way to keep these schools open and still be able to maintain the high quality of education that we give our students, we would have found it,” said school board member Angie Gallo.
The board tentatively agreed in December that the seven campuses needed to be shuttered. Since then, the district held community meetings with patrons at each of the seven schools.
Orange County's enrollment dropped by about 5,600 students this year and has lost almost 9,000 students in the last three. Student numbers could decline by another 5,000 next year, Superintendent Maria Vazquez said.
The district blames the loss on the increased use of state-funded vouchers for private and homeschool education, as well as declining birth rates and the nation’s immigration crackdown. The district estimates its count of Venezuelan students fell about 1,200 this year, for example.
