Miami-Dade, Broward school boards push forward with plans to shutter several campuses

Just days after voters in Miami-Dade and Broward approved a school tax renewal to continue funding for teacher pay, officials for both districts say they still intend to explore shuttering several campuses due to low enrollment. Officials have routinely cited steep enrollment drops, including five consecutive years of decline in Broward, for why they need to continue with proposed plans to close several schools as essential cost-cutting measures. Today our school district faces a reality we cannot ignore: student enrollment is declining, said Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Raphael Villalobos. The schools facing the chopping block in Miami-Dade include: Golden Glades Elementary Myrtle Grove Elementary Carol City Middle Lorah Park Elementary Hammocks Middle Southside Preparatory Academy, which currently operates as a kindergarten-eighth grade, to be expanded to also include high schoolers through 12th grade. This conversation is not sim