The Orange County Board of Education met on Oct. 7 to discuss declining enrollment rates, available funding and renovations for Orange County Schools.
What's new?
- OCS Chief Academic Officer Julie Pack gave an update on school enrollment, demographic and attendance data. Pack said enrollment at OCS has steadily declined over the past few years.
- She said OCS has 74 less students enrolled than was projected.
- There are five schools in the district with lower enrollment numbers, including Central Elementary School, Efland-Cheeks Global Elementary School, River Park Elementary School, Orange Middle School and Orange High School.
- Since enrollment in the 2024-25 academic year is lower than expected, Pack said OCS will see a future decrease in funding.
- Pack said the number of Hispanic students in OCS is growing, while most other ethnic or racial groups are holding steady or declining.
- "We know that enrollment is also contingent on our community's confidence in our schools," she said. "And as you know, this administration has a focus on student success and school success."
- The district is working to conduct outreach to families to increase enrollment, Pack said, including a kindergarten registration campaign.
- "One thought I had is potentially considering some additional proactive outreach to non-OCS preschools," Board Member Sarah Smylie said. "There's a bunch in the area. My guess is that charter schools are doing some proactive outreach to them."
What decisions were made?
