The superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, Howard Hepburn, recommended on Thursday the closure of seven elementary schools and three middle schools for the 2027-28 school year, a decision that directly impacts families in Miramar, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, and other cities with a high concentration of Cuban and Hispanic populations in South Florida.
The proposal is not final: only the nine-member School Board has the authority to approve the closures through a majority vote, and that decision is scheduled for December 15.
The background of the crisis is an unprecedented drop in enrollment. The district reports more than 61,000 empty desks, nearly 80% of that loss accumulated over the past decade.
The official count for September recorded 177,575 students, a decrease of more than 10,000 compared to the previous year. This drop translates to about 430 million dollars less in the annual budget of 3.5 billion for the district.
The 10 proposed schools to close and where the students would go
This is the complete list according to Hepburn's recommendation:
- Banyan Elementary (Sunrise) → Discovery and Village Elementary
- Parkside Elementary
- Silver Lakes Elementary and Dolphin Bay Elementary (Miramar) → Glades Middle, reconfigured as a K-8 school
- Lloyd Estates Elementary (Oakland Park) → North Andrews Gardens and Oakland Park Elementary
- Colbert Elementary (Hollywood)
- Sheridan Park Elementary (Hollywood) → Boulevard Heights, Driftwood, and Hollywood Park Elementary
- Coral Springs Middle
- Walter C. Young Middle (Pembroke Pines) → Charles W. Flanagan High, reconfigured as a 6-12 school
- William Dandy Middle (Fort Lauderdale) → Parkway Middle School
In most cases, the buildings would be repurposed for purposes that have not yet been specified. The exception is the William Dandy Middle campus, which is slated to become the headquarters of KIPP Miami, an operator of charter schools under the "Schools of Hope" program.
Debate within the Board and opposition from the union
Within the School Board itself, there are those who consider the proposal insufficient. Member Allen Zeman advocated for closing 26 schools, arguing that the pace of closures does not keep up with the rate of student loss.
"This list of 10 schools represents 2.5% of our student body. That’s 4,500 individuals from a district with 177,000 students," Zeman said at Wednesday's workshop. "If we continue changing 2.5% each year while enrollment declines by 5.5%, we will never catch up."
The teachers' union took a contrary stance. The secretary of the Broward Teachers Union, Lialiana Ruedo, rejected the massive closures: "Every school that closes sends a message to the community that public schools are not important."
If the 10 closures are approved in December, the district will have closed 17 schools in three years as part of its "Redefining Our Schools" initiative. The six closures approved the previous year resulted in a collective savings of about 10 million dollars annually, approximately 1.2 million per school.
A phenomenon that is also shaking Miami-Dade
Broward does not face this situation alone. Miami-Dade identified five schools that could close, including Golden Glades Elementary, Carol City Middle, and Hammocks Middle, although its School Board postponed the vote until March 2027.
In parallel, charter schools are seeking to establish themselves in five public institutes in Miami-Dade under a state co-location policy, which has sparked a similar debate about the use of public facilities by private operators.
Families in Broward who wish to make their voices heard before a decision is made have until December 15 to participate in the process, which is the date the School Board will hold the final vote.
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