Broward schools start year smoothly as enrollment falls by 11,000 students
Key Points(5)
- Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Howard Hepburn said the district’s first day of classes went smoothly Monday, despite a few air-conditioning issues, as the district begins the school year with about 180,000 students.
- “You want to start how you want to finish,” Hepburn said at a press conference.
- “We’re starting well this year.” The district, the sixth-largest school district in the nation and second-largest in Florida, is again facing declining enrollment, with about 11,000 fewer students enrolled compared with the previous year.
- The decline represents roughly $100 million less in funding for the district.
- Hepburn said the majority of the expected loss was already accounted for in the district’s budget.
Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Howard Hepburn said the district’s first day of classes went smoothly Monday, despite a few air-conditioning issues, as the district begins the school year with about 180,000 students.
“You want to start how you want to finish,” Hepburn said at a press conference. “We’re starting well this year.”
The district, the sixth-largest school district in the nation and second-largest in Florida, is again facing declining enrollment, with about 11,000 fewer students enrolled compared with the previous year.
The decline represents roughly $100 million less in funding for the district. Hepburn said the majority of the expected loss was already accounted for in the district’s budget.
“We've budgeted for the expected decline for the majority of this,” he said. “We hope that enrollment continues to climb, and that we're not in the red, but we kind of climb up into black.”
Hepburn said he visited seven schools on the first day and saw parents and students continuing to enroll through school front offices.
The district is expected to have official enrollment figures on Sept. 14, and Hepburn said officials are hoping student numbers increase as the school year progresses.
“We're hoping that students continue to show up,” he said.
The enrollment decline comes as school districts across South Florida contend with demographic changes and the potential impact of federal immigration policies.
At a recent budget hearing, Hepburn raised concerns that the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of Haitian immigrants could further affect enrollment in Broward County.
Florida has about 113,000 Haitian TPS holders, the largest population in the country, while South Florida is home to the nation’s largest concentration of Haitian residents.
Hepburn also sought to reassure immigrant families about student safety and access to public schools amid heightened immigration enforcement.
“Broward County Public Schools is probably the safest environment for our students,” he said Monday. “Any law enforcement agency, they have to have court orders to come in our school and remove a student, and we haven't had that happen yet since the whole immigration policies have been implemented.”
Despite the enrollment and funding challenges, Hepburn said the district’s focus remains on maintaining stable operations and providing students with a strong start to the new school year.
