The School Assistance Boundary Committee of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools has officially released a list of 27 schools that will be monitored and analyzed for possible structural changes, including closures or consolidations in the coming years.
The disclosure raised concerns among teachers and parents in communities such as Miami Gardens, Opa-locka, Kendall, and Homestead, especially after the School Board approved the closure or consolidation of nine campuses in various locations across the county this summer.
The list is divided into two categories: 12 schools classified as "re-evaluated" and another 15 categorized as "under review."
Of the two, the designation of "reevaluated" implies a greater likelihood of significant changes. This category indicates that a decision has already been made to align with the strategic objectives and long-term infrastructure plan of the district, and that "there will be an impact on the school in its current form."
All the "reevaluated" schools operate at 50% or less of their physical capacity, according to state calculations from last school year. There is one that doesn't even reach 20% occupancy.
The 12 schools in that category are:
Carol City Middle (40%)
Brentwood Elementary (36%)
Golden Glades Elementary (44%)
Lake Stevens Elementary (47%)
Myrtle Grove Elementary (19%)
Lorah Park Elementary (36%)
Paul L. Dunbar K-8 Center (42 %)
Center for International Education (35%)
Greenglade Elementary (47%)
Hammocks Middle (32%)
Kendale Elementary (45%)
and Village Green Elementary (50%).
The 15 schools "under review" could remain unchanged, continue to be analyzed, receive additional programs, or be part of future recommendations.
These are:
Natural Bridge Elementary (49%)
North County K-8 Center, (47%)
North Dade Middle, (21%)
Emerson Elementary (48%)
Lillie C Evans K-8 Center (36%)
Ludlam Elementary (54%)
Kelsey L. Pharr Elementary (72%)
Orchard Villa Elementary (33%)
Gloria Floyd Elementary (42%)
Lamar Louise Curry Middle (67%)
Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary (45%)
Olympia Heights (47%)
Riviera Middle / Tropical Elementary (45 % / 36 %)
and South Miami Heights Elementary (58%).
The School Board clarified that appearing on the list does not equate to an automatic closure, and that any future decision will need to go through a public process before formal recommendations are made.
The driving force behind these evaluations is a sustained decline in enrollment. The official count in February recorded approximately 232,000 students in traditional public schools; when including charter schools, the figure rose to nearly 319,000. At the start of the new school year, the district reported around 301,000 enrolled students in the first three days of classes.
Superintendent José Dotres identified the main cause as the decline in the arrival of immigrant students. While two years ago the district received between 15,000 and 22,000 new foreign students each year, in the last school year that number fell to approximately 3,300.
He also pointed out that the district no longer has certain federal funds that previously helped support schools with low enrollment, which necessitates ongoing evaluations of consolidations.
"We are not closing schools to save money. The reason is that we do not have the necessary resources to provide all the services in schools that are so small," the official explained to Telemundo 51.
But there are other factors affecting the low enrollment numbers, such as low birth rates, changes in migration patterns, and the high cost of living in the region.
Thus Elmo Lugo, spokesperson for the school district, confirmed in a statement, who noted that they will not stand idly by and are already trying to "win back families" through marketing campaigns that highlight the specialized programs (magnet) and the vocational training routes offered by the district.
This new round of evaluations comes just weeks after the School Board approved the permanent closure of five schools in June and the consolidation of four others, a decision that also resulted in the elimination of 168 jobs in the district.
The trend is not exclusive to Miami-Dade: the neighboring county of Broward approved the closure of six schools earlier this year, with a projected savings of eight million dollars annually, after losing more than 40,000 students in the last decade.
In 2023, Miami-Dade received more than 22,000 new immigrant children in a single school year, an unprecedented volume in two decades that caused a collapse in several schools. Barely three years later, the same district is facing the opposite problem: empty classrooms and plummeting budgets.
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