Broward County could close 10 public schools as enrollment declines leave roughly 60,000 seats empty across the district, setting up a painful fight between officials trying to cut costs and families trying to save neighborhood campuses.
According to WLRN, Superintendent Howard Hepburn told School Board members the district can no longer keep paying for thousands of unused seats as enrollment continues to fall. Broward opened this school year with 11,358 fewer students than the previous year, a decline that could cost the district about $100 million.
“We can no longer afford to fund these empty seats as enrollment continues to decline,” Hepburn said. He warned that delaying difficult decisions could leave the district with even fewer options later. “If we’re unwilling to make bold decisions today and in the near future, the decisions ahead will only get harder or worse,” Hepburn said.
The district is now considering closures in communities including Hollywood, Coral Springs, Miramar, Oakland Park, Fort Lauderdale and Pembroke Pines.
Families Push Back on Broward School Closures
For parents, however, a school marked for closure is more than an empty seat on a district spreadsheet.
CBS News Miami reported that Hollywood Park Elementary parent Karolina Albarran has launched an online petition to save the school, which her family has attended for two generations. Albarran wants the district to consider alternatives such as adding magnet or STEM programs that could attract more students rather than shutting the campus down.
“It’s just a school that has like that one-on-one touch with kids,” Albarran told the outlet. Hollywood Park is among the campuses under consideration. Under the proposal, its students could be reassigned to Boulevard Heights and West Hollywood elementary schools. Hepburn has acknowledged the emotional weight of closing schools.
“No one wants to close a school,” he said, describing campuses as places where generations of students learn, families form friendships and teachers build careers.
But district leaders say the financial reality is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Hepburn said Broward is spending more to keep some underused school buildings running than it is to educate the students inside them.
Hepburn explained what families potentially stand to gain from having fuller schools: “When you’re at a school that’s at capacity, you have all the bells and whistles. You have all the programming. You have all the specials.”
The superintendent has described consolidation as part of an effort to “right-size” the district so more resources can be concentrated at schools with higher enrollment.
Broward Has Already Closed Schools
This would not be the district’s first round of closures. The School Board has already closed seven schools over the past two years, while Hepburn said those closures and the elimination of around 1,000 staff positions have saved the district more than $100 million.
The current proposal could affect elementary and middle schools across Broward County, although the list is not yet set in stone. Some School Board members have also discussed adding more campuses for consideration.
That uncertainty gives families at schools such as Hollywood Park a limited window to make their case. Community listening sessions are expected to begin in September, with the School Board scheduled to discuss public feedback on Sept. 22. Hepburn is then expected to make his final recommendations in November. A final School Board vote is scheduled for Dec. 15.
Until then, Broward officials will have to balance a stark financial reality — 60,000 empty seats and falling enrollment — against families arguing that closing a neighborhood school carries a cost that cannot be measured only in dollars.
