9 public schools to close ahead of next academic year

Nine Miami-Dade County public schools will close ahead of the upcoming academic year, which officials have said is the result of continued declining enrollment.

Why it matters: The closures — unanimously approved this month by the School Board — are the latest example of the challenges traditional public school districts face due to the state's expanded voucher system and the growth of private alternatives.

Case in point: In April, the board signed off on an unprecedented agreement with Success Academy, enabling it to operate within five district high schools beginning in August 2027.

Success is New York's largest charter school conglomerate and is backed by billionaire Ken Griffin.

The big picture: Those five high schools are not among those closing.

But nearly all nine schools slated for closure were among the nearly 90 that received interest from charter school companies about sharing building space, part of the state's expanded Schools of Hope program.

The campus-sharing law allows certain charters to move into schools with low enrollment while requiring the district to foot the bill for custodial, food and other services.

The latest: Two schools in the district's North Region, three in the Central and four in the South will close or be combined with other schools for the upcoming year, per district records.

Those schools: Parkway, Rainbow Park, Lenora Brayon Smith, Phillis Wheatley, Pine Villa and Robert Russa Moton elementaries, Miami Springs and Richmond Heights middle schools, and Mandarin Lakes K-8.

Between the lines: A district committee picked the schools, citing factors like enrollment declines, class-size mandates, new development and reduction or elimination of racial isolation, among other criteria.

The proposed closures were presented to the board and the schools' communities before the final approval.