As of March 2026, Orange County Public Schools has voted to close seven schools. This comes at a time where numerous factors are affecting the enrollment of students including declining birth rates, and increasing private school enrollment, but the most detrimental of these factors is the shift from public to charter schools. As a result, Orange County has chosen to close Union Park Middle, Bonneville, Orlo Vista, Chickasaw, Eccleston, McCoy, and Meadow Woods Elementary Schools.

It isn’t simply the declining rates of enrollment that are causing school districts to close down their schools but the costly efforts to fill their schools with students through things like school choice programs.

Orange County in particular has had to utilize $41 million in funding this year alone for these programs. As Florida charter schools continue to expand due to Florida programs like “Schools of Hope” which gives high performing charter operators the ability to create schools in areas with low performing public schools.

These charter operators are called Hope Operators. “A hope operator is a nonprofit organization with tax exempt status under s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code that operates three or more charter schools that serve students in grades K-12 in Florida or other states with a record of serving students from low-income families and is designated by the State Board of Education as a hope operator,” explains George A. Smith, Municipal Bond Counsel.

As the enrollment for these schools increases, there will be less enrollment in public schools. While this may contribute to the closing of other public schools in the future, it is immediately contributing to staffing changes across numerous school districts.