ORLANDO, Fla. – The numbers prove it: Central Florida continues to grow and our schools are in no way immune.
While we’re currently in the 2019-2020 academic year, Orange County Public Schools officials have already developed projections of what enrollment numbers will look more than 10 years from now, all the way up to the 2030-2031 school year.
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The current enrollment number that includes traditional and non-traditional schools sits at 212,401, making Orange County the most populous school district in the Central Florida region. Polk County comes in second with more than 108,000 students, or a little more than half of Orange County.
Below are the current enrollment numbers for each school district in Central Florida, provided by the Florida Department of Education. These figures include traditional public schools for prekindergarten through 12th grade.
Just hover over each county to take a look.
Even with more than double the students of most local districts, Orange County school enrollment numbers are projected to grow each year, although we could see dips between 20201-2021 and 2021-2022 as well as the next year.
After that, researchers are projecting jumps of at least a thousand students between each academic year. By the end of the 10-year period, there could be an increase of more than 4,000 students between school years.
Adding it all up, it looks like Orange County will have 25,520 more students than it does now by the 2030-2031 academic year.
Take a look at the graph below to see the enrollment projections over the next decade:
It’s important to note that Orange County Public Schools relies on its own projections rather than using numbers provided by the state.
Researchers with the district use birth rate information provided by the Florida Department of Health, statistics on upcoming residential developments and other data to formulate their projections, which they use to decide when new schools need to be built to accommodate for growth.
The district plans to open three new elementary schools for the 2020-2021 academic year and two high schools, one elementary school and one ESE center for the following school year, according to a spokesperson.
For more Orange County Public Schools numbers, including school capacity figures and budget projections, click here.