Broward schools grapple with dwindling enrollment

About 1,800 fewer students attend Broward’s district-run schools this year, and School Board members are looking for ways to deal with that.

Parents cite a lack of individual instruction, safety and bullying concerns, mediocre school grades and poor discipline for pulling their kids out of traditional public schools, according to surveys conducted by the district.

The quality of schools is also a factor for many parents who move away from Broward County. Other factors include new job opportunities and housing costs.

At a Tuesday workshop, the School Board reviewed the data and discussed possible fixes, including creating more K-8 schools, changing start times for some schools and adding new programs at under-enrolled schools. One option they wanted to avoid was closing schools. They said if they abandon a school, state law allows charter schools — a large reasons schools are under-enrolled in the first place — to use them.

“If you merge facilities, what happens with the facility that’s no longer needed?” Board member Patti Good asked. “You need to have an action plan, or the next thing you know you could have a charter school wanting to use the same facility we just left.”

But if a school has an old building with classrooms that aren’t needed, the district may abandon or demolish it and just make the school smaller, officials said. Board members also discussed opening more programs to provide education for pre-K and adult students.

A report by the district’s demographics department showed the number of students attending traditional schools dropped from 226,424 to 224,634, while charter school enrollment increased by 826 students to 45,919.

The overall decline of about 900 is the first time public school enrollment has dropped in Broward County since 2009, district demographers said.

Enrollment declines are expected to continue, district officials say. Although Broward County’s population is growing, it’s coming from residents over 45, not young families.

“The babies and the baby makers are a smaller part of the population,” district administrator Leslie Brown said.

The declines aren’t affecting the district evenly. The district found a high correlation between a school’s letter grade and how crowded it was. The district has 21,543 empty seats, and 90 percent of those are in schools rated C, D or F. In A-rated schools, there’s a shortage of 3,804 seats. About 45 percent of district schools are rated C or below.

The research also shows elementary and middle schools tend to lose a lot of students who then return for high school. Many charter schools serve only kin

dergarten through eighth grade, often on the same campus. Parents have fewer options for high school because there aren’t many charter schools, which have found it too expensive to offer athletics,

music and other programs popular with students.

For elementary and middle school students, the largest exodus is in the south part of the county, which has become a stronghold for charter schools.

Parents who choose charter schools cite reasons such as safety, smaller

classes and newer facilities. They said safety refers to the environment within a school, more than concerns about an outsider coming onto campus and opening fire, as happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland in February 2018.

Board member Lori Alhadeff said she thinks charter

schools may offer better “customer service” to parents than some district schools. She urged the district to make sure parents feel like they are valued when they visit their children’s schools.

Terry Preuss, vice president of the Broward Teachers Union, said she’s seen some administrators not

know how to handle parents who get upset.

“I’ve seen parents taken out in handcuffs,” she said. “Customer service should not be, ‘Call the cops and get them out of here.’”