Miami-Dade considers closing these 9 schools as enrollment dives

• Miami-Dade Public Schools is weighing closing or repurposing nine schools ahead of the upcoming academic year.
• According to NBC6, the school board is considering the measure due to declining enrollment.
• The school board is set to vote in June.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools is weighing closing or repurposing nine schools ahead of the upcoming academic year.

According to NBC6, due to declining enrollment, the school board will vote on a proposal to close or repurpose nine schools in June. In January, the Broward County School Board decided to close seven public schools, which Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn called one of several “cost saving measures,” essential for a district that he said had lost over 40,000 students in the past 10 years, or over $30 million in revenue.

The Miami-Dade County School District had 313,220 students enrolled at the start of the 2025-2026 school year, down around 13,000 from the start of the 2024-25 school year. It’s a dip that WLRN previously reported has been frequently attributed to Florida’s expanded voucher program, which allowed for the rapid growth of charter and private schools. Miami-Dade County officials, however, said the drop is due to fewer immigrant families moving to South Florida.

Which schools are being considered for closure or repurposing?

According to Axios, the following schools are being considered for closure and/or repurposing:

• Parkway Elementary would close.
• Rainbow Park Elementary would close.
• Lenora B. Smith Elementary would close and be combined with Georgia Jones-Ayers Middle, becoming a K-8 center.
• Miami Springs Middle would close and be combined with Miami Springs Senior to become a 6-12 school.
• Phillis Wheatley Elementary would close.
• Pine Villa Elementary School would close and be combined with Arthur & Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts in order to form a K-12 school.
• Richmond Heights Middle would close and be combined with BioTech 9-12 to form a 6-12 school.
• Mandarin Lakes K-8 Academy would close.
• Robert Russa Moton Elementary would close.

Sarah Perkel is a South Florida Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network's Florida Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.