FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — More than 90% of Broward County Public Schools’ enrollment decrease so far this year was at district schools -- not charter schools.
On Wednesday, BCPS released the detailed comparative data on the district’s 10th-day enrollment count that Superintendent Howard Hepburn’s staff sent to school board members on Monday.
BCPS data shows there was a decrease of nearly 4.7% in student enrollment at BCPS from the 2024-25 school year’s 10th day to the 2025-26 school year.
There were nearly 11,370 fewer students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade, and this included 10,360 in district schools and 1,009 in charter schools, the data shows.
BCPS district schools had an enrollment decrease of about 5.4%. There were 198,362 on the 2024-25 school year’s 10th day, and there were 188,002 enrolled on the 2025-26 school year’s 10th day.
This included 116 fewer students at Sunset Lakes Elementary in Miramar, 247 fewer students at Lyons Creek Middle School in Coconut Creek, 254 fewer students at Dillard 6-12 in Fort Lauderdale, and 313 fewer students at Western High School in Davie.
BCPS charter schools, which operate independently with public funds, had a decrease of 2%. There were 49,555 on the 2024-25 school year’s 10th day, and there were 48,546 enrolled on the 2025-26 school year’s 10th day.
There were 181 fewer students at Franklin Academy - Pembroke Pines High School, and 132 fewer students at Renaissance Charter Schools at Pines.
The data also included 288 fewer students at Ben Gamla Charter School South Broward in Plantation, and 287 more students at Ben Gamla Charter School in Hollywood.
There were some schools with increases in enrollment, including the Imagine Schools- Plantation Campus, a charter school with 108 more students, and Northeast High School, a district school in Oakland Park with 133 more students.
In the report, Valerie Wanza, BCPS chief strategy and innovation officer, wrote that she was still working on accounting for data related to the students’ socioeconomic status.
“The data provided is not currently disaggregated for race, ethnicity, English Language Learners, Exceptional Student Education, or Free and Reduced Lunch,” Wanza wrote, adding that it will be in BCPS will be in the Benchmark Day Enrollment Count on Sept. 8.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools did not release detailed data. Superintendent Jose Dotres held a round table on Wednesday and reported that the district had about 13,000 fewer students than last year, and attributed about 2,000 fewer kindergarteners to declining birth rates.
“Not one teacher is going to be let go,” Dotres said, since Florida’s public school funding is directly linked to student enrollment.
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