Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay families will head back to school Aug. 13 under a shrinking Miami-Dade County Public Schools budget that eliminates 168 positions, projects another 8,000-student enrollment drop and banks on voters renewing a property tax in November to fund teacher raises.
The school board, led by Chair Mari Tere Rojas, tentatively adopted the $7.36 billion spending plan on July 29 after a public hearing. All eight seated members participated; the District 1 seat is vacant. Operating expenses are down 3.6% from last year. For district-managed schools alone, the general fund drops 5.15%, from $2.53 billion to $2.4 billion.
The district is projected to spend $49 million less on salaries and benefits than it did in 2025-26, with $2.64 billion budgeted for compensation. Teacher headcount has fallen from 18,275 in the 2017-18 school year to 15,322 last year, driven by retirements and resignations outpacing new hires.
168 positions cut, no formal layoffs
The board voted June 17 to eliminate 168 general fund positions: 41 administrative, 19 instructional, 28 clerical, 27 professional and technical, 40 support, 11 clerical exempt and two maintenance. Combined with 45 positions left unfilled during a hiring freeze, the district's budget documents show total savings of roughly $19.7 million. The district said in its rightsizing agenda that it will try to reskill and reassign affected employees rather than lay them off.
Vouchers surge, enrollment falls
The budget attributes much of the revenue squeeze to Florida's Family Empowerment Scholarship. An estimated 82,500 Miami-Dade students will use the private school voucher in 2026-27, a jump of more than 10,000 from last year, with each voucher averaging more than $8,000. State funding flowing to those vouchers is projected at $766 million, up from $661 million, the Miami Herald reported.
Traditional public school enrollment is projected to fall to 217,100. As we reported July 25, a new Catholic school campus opened in Cutler Bay amid that decline. Even charter school enrollment is expected to drop for the first time ever, falling by more than 1,800 students to 86,400.
Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University's Edunomics Lab, pointed to demographics. "The real villain is young people. They're not having enough kids," she told the Herald. The district's kindergarten class enrolled only 18,700 students last October, while each high school grade topped 26,500.
November referendum: $569.5 million at stake
The entire budget assumes Miami-Dade voters will renew a school property tax referendum in November. That levy is projected to generate $569.5 million: 88% ($501 million) for instructional pay increases and 12% ($68 million) for school safety and security. Voters approved the tax by wide margins in 2018 and 2022.
If the referendum fails, the district's own documents warn it would need to slash non-salary spending by 36.9% in one year or 19.25% per year over two years to absorb the loss.
New superintendent inherits tight budget
The board unanimously selected Rafael Villalobos as the district's next superintendent on July 29, the same day it tentatively adopted the budget. Villalobos, 54, a 32-year district veteran who began teaching at South Dade Senior High in 1994, called under-enrollment the "greatest issue" facing the district. He told the Miami Herald on July 29 that teachers "should be raised at top dog" but said he needs to review the budget before committing to a specific figure, noting the district is "restricted with the amount of money that we have."
Villalobos does not formally take over until Feb. 14, 2027; Superintendent Jose Dotres remains in charge through then. None of the nine schools closing or merging this fall are in Palmetto Bay or Cutler Bay, but Villalobos has warned more consolidations and boundary changes lie ahead.
The second public hearing and final budget vote is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m.
