By Melissa Byrd

There have been a lot of news reports recently about the loss of students in our school district as well as other districts around the state. I thought an update on our local Apopka public schools would be important to share. 

Yes, our district has seen a drastic decrease in enrollment. Based on our 10-day enrollment count, enrollment for traditional schools dropped 6,627 students.  

The first and obvious cause for this decline in enrollment is the increase in families taking taxpayer vouchers to enroll their child in private or homeschooling, since there are no income requirements for the vouchers now.  

We know this because the money flows through our budget. Last year, $220 million funded vouchers in Orange County, and this year it is estimated to be about $60 million more, totaling around $280 million.  

The vouchers account for some of the decline in enrollment, but the district also estimated that 2,539 of the students are immigrant students. These are students that we were expecting to show up, who haven’t yet.  

This drop in enrollment has resulted in a $53 million budget shortfall. We are actively working to re-engage these students and attract new families, but we must also take urgent steps to protect the District’s financial stability.  

Individual schools that have lost students have been notified of their reduced budgets and they are making adjustments to staffing. This is resulting in staff being moved around throughout the district.  

As far as our schools in Apopka are concerned, we saw drops in many. All of our elementary schools dropped enrollment except for Apopka, Dream Lake, Wolf Lake, and Zellwood. Only Apopka and Zellwood are over capacity at this time by 46 and 8 students, respectively.  

Remember, we have the next relief school planned in the district to relieve Apopka, Wolf Lake, and Zellwood currently planned to start in 2029, though I expect that date to be moved up. 

Piedmont and Apopka Middle lost students, and Wolf Lake Middle gained a few. Wolf Lake is the only middle school over capacity at this time by 92 students. Kelly Park is holding steady at about 200 students under capacity. 

Apopka High saw more students show up to register the first week than was expected, but they had lost some students last year. The enrollment at AHS remains over capacity, but has not increased and is holding at 218 students over. We lost some students at Wekiva High, putting the school 767 students under capacity. 

With so many schools under capacity throughout the district, there are difficult discussions happening, not only including staffing reductions but also possibly rezoning to equalize schools out.  

Underenrolled schools put a financial strain on the district, as you can imagine, since they don’t produce the funding from students, yet still require spending money to keep them running, so the district has to compensate for the shortfall. It’s important to correct this when we can.