100 teachers could be out of a job, more public schools could close in Orange County, district says
By Greg Fox
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ORLANDO, Fla. (WESH) — Just four months after shuttering more than half a dozen schools, the Orange County School District is considering another round of closures.
That word came as the district told WESH 2 that 212 instructional positions were identified for reassignment based on enrollment and program needs. Of that, 98 remain unassigned and may lose their jobs in the coming weeks.
District staff are working directly with these employees and will provide them with available vacancy information and opportunities for reassignment where possible.
Eighth-largest school district The move points to the ongoing struggles the nation’s eighth-largest school district is having with declining enrollment.
Roughly a third of Orange County’s public elementary schools are not at high enough capacity to bring in the state dollars required to keep some of those schools open.
Empty playground Orlo Vista Elementary School used to be the pride of its neighborhood. But the gates are locked, and the playground that looks brand new is no longer used for recess. Orlo Vista was one of seven schools closed by Orange County last May in the face of declining enrollment.
Now, it appears that was just round one.
“I believe that we will have to start having conversations around additional school closures,” said Maria Vazquez, Orange County schools superintendent
She said the district will be launching a study, once the new chair is in place and new school board members are sworn in in November, to see which schools have enough students to receive the per-pupil spending ($9,400 annually) that covers salaries and expenses.
65% capacity Right now, there are 40 elementary schools below 65% capacity. That’s roughly 33% of all elementary schools. Two middle schools and three high schools are also below 65% capacity.
“I definitely foresee the (school) district doing an analysis of schools that meet the criteria for closure,” Vazquez said.
Contributing factors When talking about declining enrollment in schools, it’s important to remember there’s not one specific reason: It’s a combination of factors that are causing enrollment to decline.
Some of it is that people are having fewer children; others are moving out of an increasingly expensive state, but perhaps the biggest reason is billions of public dollars being rerouted to private and homeschool vouchers.
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