The Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools believes the last time the district experienced a decline in enrollment as drastic as last year's was after Hurricane Andrew.
"When do you lose 12,000 students from one year to the next? It's never happened," Superintendent Jose Dotres said during a press conference, adding that "the last time I think something similar happened was in Hurricane Andrew, because of the displacements."
M-DCPS is one of Florida's largest school districts, and has lost thousands of students over the past several years, reductions that usually result in a shrinking budget.
Dotres said the district has a more "stabilized understanding" of what enrollment will "look like" at M-DCPS schools going forward, according
to WLRN.
Neighboring Broward County saw an initial dip of about 11,000 students at the start of this academic year, although Superintendent Howard Hepburn said he expected families to continue enrolling.
Dotres will continue to serve as the Miami-Dade Public Schools superintendent until Feb. 14, 2027.
Florida public schools see 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.
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.
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.
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: 'It's never happened.' Miami-Dade schools lost 12,000 students last year
