4 Miami-Dade schools up for closure after enrollment drops

• Four public schools in the Miami-Dade district are being recommended for closure and consolidation at an upcoming school board meeting.
• Five other schools were previously recommended for closure and repurposing by the Attendance Boundary Committee, but they're not mentioned on the June 17 agenda.
• The potential closures come amid declining enrollment.

Four public schools in the Miami-Dade district are being recommended for closure and consolidation at an upcoming school board meeting.

The agenda for the meeting on June 17 names:

• Miami's Lenora B. Smith Elementary school, which would would close and be combined with Georgia Jones-Ayers Middle, becoming a K-8 center.
• Miami Springs Middle, which would close and be combined with Miami Springs Senior to become a 6-12 school.
• Miami's Pine Villa Elementary School, which would close and be combined with Arthur & Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts in order to form a K-12 school.
• Miami's Richmond Heights Middle, which would close and be combined with BioTech at Richmond Heights 9-12 to form a 6-12 school.

Though most school campuses neighbor one another, Miami Springs Middle and Miami Springs High are located around a mile and a half apart from one another.

Five other schools were previously recommended for closure and repurposing by the Attendance Boundary Committee, but they're not mentioned on the June 17 agenda.

The potential closures come amid declining enrollment — 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.

Previously proposed closures in Miami-Dade County

A full list of previously-proposed closures in the Miami-Dade district, including those on the June 17 agenda:

• 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 at Richmond Heights 9-12 to form a 6-12 school.
• Mandarin Lakes K-8 Academy would close.
• Robert Russa Moton Elementary would close.

Drops in student enrollment

The biggest five school districts in Florida, including Miami-Dade and Broward, have collectively lost about 67,000 non-charter students from the 2023-2024 school year through the 2025-2026 school year.

That’s according to figures compiled by the Lee County school district, provided in May as part of a discussion surrounding its “budget realignment.” The numbers are as of February 2026, and refer to total membership for grades from PreK-12.

From 2023-2024 to 2024-2025, Miami-Dade Public Schools lost 6,947 non-charter students and gained 1,331 charter students. From 2024-2025 to 2025-2026, the district lost 15,288 non-charter students and gained 428 charter students. In February, the district had 232,617 non-charter students enrolled for the 2025-2026 year, along with 86,802 charter students.

In Broward, meanwhile, the district lost 9,512 non-charter students from 2023-2024 to 2024-2025 and gained 68 charter school students. From 2024-2025 to 2025-2026, the district lost 6,955 non-charter students and 1,328 charter students. The district had 185,864 non-charter students enrolled at the start of the 2025-2026 year, as well as 48,460 charter students.

Collectively, the Broward and Miami-Dade school districts lost 38,702 non-charter students from 2023-2024 through 2025-2026.

Broward County is also considering more than 10 school closures for 2027-2028 academic year

At a May 12 school board workshop, Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn said the Broward School District could close more than 10 schools in the 2027-2028 academic year in response to a question by board member Dr. Allen Zeman.

“If what we are trying to do is to create the most efficient and effective school district possible, what, in general, would be the number of schools you'd look to repurpose through this cycle?” Zeman asked.

Closures are part of an ongoing effort to shutter, amalgamate or repurpose campuses throughout the district in response to a precipitous decline in enrollment.

“You always got the hard questions, huh, Doc?” Hepburn said, adding, “I don’t want to scare the public, but I would say definitely above 10.”

No specific schools were mentioned. In January, the Broward County School Board decided to close seven public schools, which 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.

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.