Classes begin again in Miami-Dade County on August 13 — but several institutions won’t be reopening after a school board decision to close or consolidate them with other campuses nearby. 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 nearby. The plan was previously recommended by the district’s Attendance Boundary Committee.
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.
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.” 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 County, 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. 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. “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?” asked board member Dr. Allen Zeman. Hepburn responded, “You always got the hard questions, huh, Doc? 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 essential “cost saving measures” for a district that had lost over 40,000 students in the past 10 years, or over $30 million in revenue.
“These schools serve some of the highest-poverty communities in Miami-Dade,” said Lissette Fernandez, co-founder of Moms for Libros, during the June 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. 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.
Amid these adjustments, the Miami-Dade school board has selected a new superintendent. After public interviews held Wednesday between two finalists, the board unanimously selected current South Region Superintendent Rafael Villalobos to lead the district. The decision caps a months-long search process, which drew 21 applications from across the country. Villalobos, 54, has led MDCPS’ South Region, covering more than 80,000 students, since 2022. He began his career in the district in 1994, and has worked there for 27 years. Villalobos was a finalist alongside Ernie Lozano, the chief human resources officer for Broward County Public Schools. Both candidates sat for a nearly hour-long public interview with all eight board members.
“I am grateful, and I’m ready. I am ready to serve the children of Miami-Dade County, the families and the communities, and everyone that touches indirectly or directly our school system,” Villalobos said immediately after the decision was announced. The Miami-Dade native will replace Superintendent Jose Dotres, whose contract is scheduled to end in February. Dotres was hired in 2022 to replace Alberto Carvalho. The board’s decision marks the third consecutive hire with deep administrative roots in the Miami-Dade school system. Villalobos received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Nova Southeastern University and is a doctoral candidate at Florida International University. He made history as the first principal to lead two high schools at the same time, Booker T. Washington Senior High and Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial High in 2009 and 2010.
In his interview with the board, Villalobos addressed issues like enrollment decline, reading proficiency, school safety, curriculum, achievement gaps and more. He expressed a desire to play an active public-facing role and tackle the issues facing the district head on. “I’m ready on day one. I’ve been doing this work with efficacy, with love, compassion, with determination. I’ve never stopped,” Villalobos said. When asked about the need for faster school consolidations, given that nine schools will not open this year, Villalobos responded: “We definitely are going to have to do a little bit more, a little bit faster — and not necessarily just school closures. We may need to look at boundary changes. We may need to look at dissolving boundaries. We may need to look at consolidating schools. We may need to look at partnering schools together.”
Villalobos also embraced the pressure on traditional public schools as enrollment at private schools — and the use of taxpayer-funded vouchers — increases and charter school enrollment remains robust. “We’re in an ecosystem of educational choices, right? And I view it as a competition. I view it as the opportunity for us to outshine the competitors, and we will do that,” Villalobos said. Board members lauded his leadership and communication skills. “You have interpersonal skills that are second to none. I know that. I’ve witnessed that throughout the years,” said Board Chair Mari Tere Rojas. District 5 Board Member Danny Espino said Villalobos would “lead with confidence.” The board agreed to meet in August to finalize Villalobos’ contract, with Rojas negotiating the terms in the interim.