A school’s first few days typically center on a nervous cohort of pupils dispersed through winding hallways — each eager for what the next 180 days hold.
But for many Central Florida school districts facing declining enrollment, these days also represent the chance to pitch the virtues of public education to local families when an increasing number are choosing alternate paths.
“There’s a lot of opportunities in this area,” Maria Salamanca, an Orange County School Board member, said at a welcome event for parents at Lake Nona-area Luminary Elementary School, which opens its doors for the first time Monday. “But if you’re a parent, you don’t know that until you walk in and talk to the teachers and see the program offerings.”
During the Aug. 1 gathering, Salamanca, fellow school board member Angie Gallo and Superintendent Maria Vazquez walked the halls of Luminary greeting excited parents and community members. Opening a new school in the county has been a regular occurrence since voters passed the half-cent sales tax in 2002 — 28 new campuses in the last 10 years.
But by next year, Orange County Public Schools will defer new school construction in the face of declining enrollment. This school year, OCPS anticipates about 3,100 fewer students as families opt for state-funded private school scholarships.
The state expanded its school voucher program in 2023, making all students — regardless of family income — eligible for scholarships. Voucher use has risen dramatically since then while public school enrollment has dipped.
And as enrollment dips, so does state funding or public schools — which has long been distributed on a per-student basis. The district stands to lose about $27 million in state funding as a result. Neighboring Seminole County Public Schools and Lake County Public Schools each project to lose about 1,500 students next year, with a $13 million and $8 million funding loss, respectively.
In all, Florida could see about 70,000 fewer public school students this year. Osceola County’s school district, however, projects a 2,600-student increase — bucking the state trend.
Fighting the trend, Orange hired an outside firm to recruit families back to public schools and Seminole has advertised to students outside of the county.
At a news conference Friday morning, Vazquez said the firm had lured a few hundred families back to Orange schools over summer — with more concrete numbers expected a few weeks into the school year.
Outside of hiring recruiters, she said the district is trying to do a better job listening to parents’ feedback at the school level. She said front office staff at schools have received customer service training to help families feel more welcome when they walk in the doors.
“First impressions matter,” Vazquez said.
In Seminole, the district’s ePathways program offers students opportunities to earn certifications in nursing, welding and aviation — among 50 other programs — something that sets it apart from private school counterparts.
The nursing classrooms, which will teach about 700 magnet students this year, resemble a hospital floor with beds and a nurse’s station placed to simulate working in the field. Training mannequins are tucked into a few beds to help students learn how to treat patients.
And Monday, students in Seminole High School’s nursing magnet program will see the back of an ambulance parked in their classroom. The full-scale simulation is a new resource for students that Shawn Gard-Harrold, the district’s assistant superintendent for ePathways, said was unlike anything found outside public schools.
“This is a unique and awesome choice for our students,” Gard-Harrold said.
Laura Permenter, principal at Luminary Elementary, said she and her 40 teachers have been working closely with their district to prepare for Monday.
“I’m really proud to open today. I feel like we’re ready and we’re ready to welcome our families,” Permenter said.
Stacia Oliver, a fourth-grade teacher at Luminary, came to the new school from nearby Eagle Creek Elementary. She said that while Monday is the first day for students, it’s also a first day for the school’s entire staff.
“You come in, you follow their rules and you follow their expectations or whatever they already have there. But here, I get to help create it,” Oliver said.
She met some of the school’s new students at the Aug. 1 welcome event.
Priscilla Carlos Rivera, a rising first-grader, is one of those students. Priscilla Carlos, who couldn’t help but sprint up and down the unblemished hallways, gave a resounding “yes” when asked if she liked her new school.
She attended a private kindergarten but her mother, Karen Rivera, said she was thrilled to see a new public elementary school open nearby.
“Most of the kids in our community are coming here. I’m very excited about it,” Rivera said as two of her neighbors walked past and greeted the family.
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