The Miami-Dade School Board unanimously voted for Rafael Villalobos to succeed the current superintendent of the district on Wednesday. Villalobos, who has worked in the district in various capacities for 32 years, was previously the principal of Miami Springs Senior High School — one of the institutions that the district is combining with a nearby campus due to under-enrollment.
"It’s incredible to serve here as an alumnus of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. My path into education took a twist of fate, I didn't originally set out to teach,” said Villalobos, 54, according to a press release by the district. He started his career with the district 32 years ago as a teacher at South Dade Senior High School, and has served as the South Region superintendent
since 2022.
Previously, he was an assistant principal at South Dade Technical College and Felix Varela Senior High School, according to the release. He also served as the principal at a series of schools, including Booker T. Washington Senior High School, John A. Ferguson Senior High School and Miami Springs Senior High School.
Rafael Villalobos to start as superintendent in 2027
Dr. Jose Dotres, the current superintendent, will continue to serve as the Miami-Dade Public Schools superintendent until Feb. 14, 2027, according to the release.
The search process for a new superintendent received criticism over being "too closed off to the public," according to WLRN, and only arriving at two semifinalists, rather than the usual three.
Miami-Dade's under-enrollment problem leads to schools closing
Villalobos identified under-enrollment as the "greatest issue" faced by Miami-Dade County Public Schools, according to WLRN, with the district closing or merging several schools due to a lack of students ahead of the upcoming academic year.
Members of the Miami-Dade County School Board voted to close nine schools in the area during a June 17 meeting. Some of the schools will be consolidated with others in the area. The plan was previously recommended by the district's Attendance Boundary Committee.
The schools to be shuttered and/or merged include:
- Mandarin Lakes K-8 Academy, which will close.
- Robert Russa Moton Elementary, which will close.
- Parkway Elementary, which will close.
- Rainbow Park Elementary, which will close.
- Phillis Wheatley Elementary, which will close.
- Lenora B. Smith Elementary school, which will be combined with Georgia Jones-Ayers Middle, becoming a K-8 center.
- Miami Springs Middle, which will be combined with Miami Springs Senior to become a 6-12 school.
- Pine Villa Elementary School, which will be combined with Arthur & Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts in order to form a K-12 school.
- Richmond Heights Middle, which will be combined with BioTech at Richmond Heights 9-12 to form a 6-12 school.
Though most campuses of the merging schools neighbor one another, Miami Springs Middle and Miami Springs High are located around a mile and a half apart.
"These schools serve some of the highest-poverty communities in Miami-Dade," said Lissette Fernandez, co-founder of Moms for Libros, during the meeting.
"The state has underfunded public schools to the point where this district is closing the schools that serve children who have the least," she continued.
The closures and consolidations come amid declining student 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 partially due to fewer immigrant families moving to South Florida.
Florida public schools drops in student enrollment
The five largest school districts in Florida by enrollment, 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.
When does school start in South Florida?
School starts in less than a month across all of South Florida's counties — although the exact date varies by district.
Broward: Classes start on August 10 and end on May 28
Miami-Dade: Classes start on August 13 and end on June 3.
Monroe: Classes start on August 12 and end on May 28.
Palm Beach County: Classes start on August 10 and end on May 27.
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.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Next Miami-Dade superintendent was principal at school district is consolidating
