ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange County’s public school district was expecting a large decrease in enrollment this year, but officials say it’s more than they expected.
Now the district is going to reassign more than 100 teachers to deal with the changes.
OCPS Superintendent Maria Vazquez said Tuesday night that the district will reassign 116 teachers, which will help with the district’s 157 vacancies. Vazquez says the district hopes they will be able to properly match each teacher’s assignment to their subject specialty, but it will depend on what certifications the teachers have.
“Teachers will be notified on the (September) 12th of their reassignments,” Vazquez said. “On the 19th, they will begin their new assignment.”
[WATCH: Orange schools face $25M shortfall after enrollment drops nearly 7K students]
There will also be reassignments for support staff, but they do not know how many yet. School principals will be notified on Sept. 18.
The district was anticipating a 3,000-student drop in enrollment earlier this year, but instead, enrollment fell by more than 6,600 students.
Vazquez said 2,500 of the students who did not enroll were immigrants.
The loss of students means the school district will have to go through a recalculation process for state funding, and it will mean less money. The district was already expecting a $27 million reduction in state funding because of falling enrollment, but now it will likely be more.
[WATCH: Florida public schools face leaner budgets, declining enrollment amid scholarship growth]
Nearly 31% of the school district’s funding for the 2025-2026 school year comes from the state of Florida, according to budget documents.
“Those schools that had gained more students than projected receive additional dollars in allocations,” Vazquez said. “On the flip side, those schools that came in under enrollment lose dollars and allocations.”
Orange County Public Schools is one of the largest school districts in the country and the fourth largest district in Florida.