Okaloosa Superintendent of Schools Marcus Chambers is set to recommend closing Mary Esther Elementary School and Longwood Elementary School at the end of the 2025-2026 school year, with students being rezoned to other elementary schools in the south end of the county.
- The recommendation will be presented to the Okaloosa County School Board in January, with Chambers requesting a public hearing be scheduled for February, according to the District.
“Not unlike other Florida school districts, we are facing both fiscal and declining student enrollment challenges,” Chambers said in a statement. “In order to manage these issues in a responsible and proactive manner, we have, over the course of the last two school years, conducted an extensive review of these ongoing budget constraints and the impact that school capacity, as affected by declining student enrollment trends in the south end of our school district, has on operational costs.”
The two schools
The proposed closures come after months of district officials warning about enrollment challenges and their financial impact.
- Mary Esther Elementary has seen enrollment decline nearly 32% over the past 11 years, dropping from 612 students in 2018 to 385 students this year.
- Longwood Elementary enrollment has fallen almost 27% during the same period, from 637 students in 2020 to 470 students currently.
The enrollment figures do not include VPK students.
South end enrollment overall has declined almost 20% over the past 11 years. The district reported a 452-student enrollment decline below projections in October, resulting in approximately $4 million in lost funding.
Cost cutting
When asked what cost-cutting measures the district had already implemented before considering school closures, Public Information Officer Catherine Card said the district has taken multiple steps to reduce expenditures as enrollment-based revenue declined.
The district moved from fully insured to partially self-insured medical insurance in January 2022, reducing medical insurance expenditures by approximately $2.5 million per year while maintaining the same employee coverage, according to Card. Over the past two years, the district has also reduced district department level positions, instructional allocations, instructional coaches, educational support positions and operating expenditures.
- The reduction of district department level positions combined with the superintendent’s restructure for fiscal year 2026-2027 is slated to save the district approximately $1 million per year, according to the OCSD.
Chambers addressed the question of whether the district should pursue a millage increase to address budget shortfalls during Monday’s school board workshop.
“We have to first handle our side,” Chambers said. “If we have seats that are open at multiple schools, we have to be able to handle our business first. I think we have to be responsible with the dollars that we have and make decisions accordingly before going to taxpayers.”
Enrollment decline
During that same workshop on Monday, Chambers presented enrollment data showing a decline of 1,455 elementary students projected over the next 10 years in the south end of the county. Over the same period, the north end is expected to gain 851 elementary students.
- “We’re seeing a decline in the central and south end while the north end is experiencing growth,” Chambers said during the workshop. “This is the tale of two counties.”
The district attributes the enrollment decline to multiple factors, including Florida’s Family Empowerment Scholarship program, declining birth rates, housing affordability challenges and demographic shifts.
The scholarship program has grown dramatically in Okaloosa County, from approximately 1,800 participants last year to about 3,000 this year. The program funnels nearly $28 million through the district’s budget as a pass-through, though Chambers noted that about three-quarters of scholarship recipients never attended Okaloosa schools.
An 11-year enrollment analysis presented to the board showed Fort Walton Beach area elementary schools declining from more than 4,800 students in 2015 to below 4,000 students currently.
- Birth rate data showed Okaloosa County dropping below the replacement rate of 1.0 in recent years, with fertility rates also declining. District officials noted this reflects a nationwide phenomenon of declining school-age populations.
The district’s demographic study, conducted by an outside firm, projects a net loss of 604 elementary students districtwide over the next 10 years, with south end schools bearing the majority of that decline.
Chambers said the district has been sharing enrollment data with community groups including the Champions of Education and working with county commissioners, chambers of commerce and military liaisons.
Next steps
“This is a pivotal time in public education,” Chambers said during the workshop. “We have to do what we need to do to still be a strong school district and we will. But with that will come tough decisions.”
The Superintendent emphasized that the recommendation balances impacts on students, families and staff while maintaining the district’s educational and fiscal health.
- “Decisions like this are never easy and can be unpopular,” Chambers said in his statement. “We must consider the impact on our students, families, and staff while, at the same time, fulfilling our duty to this community to keep the school district educationally and fiscally sound.”
Board member Parker Destin acknowledged the difficulty of the decisions ahead while stressing the need for action.
“We have to evolve and adapt, or we’re going to go extinct,” Destin said during Monday’s workshop. “I know some of these decisions that we may be coming up against are deeply politically unpopular, but we have to be ready.”
The January board meeting will be the first time the school board formally considers the closure and rezoning recommendation. The February public hearing would allow community input before any final decision.
“This recommendation has been carefully developed to balance these considerations and to ensure our students are able to continue to receive the quality education that our families have grown to expect,” Chambers said.
14 Responses
OCSD is a business and has to function as such. Consolidating schools and reducing costs is a good thing. It does suck for the people affected but it’s better for the big picture.
In what world is a school district a business? It’s a taxpayer funded public service, like the post office and fire department. Instead of closing good schools with good teachers based solely on outdated single point metrics they should close underperforming schools like Wright. Then again those schools underperform because the district runs them as cheaply as possible.
FYI, Post Office is not funded by taxpayers.
We do, at the end of every year the US taxpayer has to pay off the post office multibillion dollar deficits. Have been for decades…………….
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/the-us-postal-service-is-going-broke/
and Post Office is bleeding money while providing inferior service
Over the years we have lost several elementary schools, Oak Hill (Where Home Depot is now), Ocean City (Off Racetrack Rd, Housing subdivision now), Combs Elementary School on Lovejoy Road (now a Charter School). Now we can add Mary Esther and Longwood. This is a normal progression as the Boomers grew old, had less children and Gen X,Y,Z are too into LGBTQ+ to have children. Eventually the same will happen to the Middle schools and High Schools. Choctaw and FWB may eventually be required to merge into one school like it was in the 50’s and 60’s……………
It was Oakland Heights Elementary School on the Mary Esther Cutoff where the Home Depot now does business.
SQUIRREL!! Two of the five comments so far are on topic
Well, I’m sure homes will be built at Longwood site & another hotel on Mary Esther property. They are set to make a lot of money. Horrible for the teachers, students, & families. Teachers are going to be forced to retire or move schools. Students are going to be forced to move schools. Classes will be maxed out. Teachers will be maxed out. However, these schools are very old, as others in the area. Lots of mold & mildew issues.
Not healthy. I’m sure Okaloosa schools made tons of money off of the old downtown school board property. Maybe, build new schools with no health issues. I don’t know what the answer is, but Okaloosa school parents & teachers need to be involved in these decisions.
What about doing like colleges and set up a donor fund to help with cost. Rich donors are starting to pull donations from colleges and looking for alternative places to donate funds to. What better place than the community where their education started.
As one of three siblings of a military family who attended Mary Esther Elementary…sad to see the announcement of it’s closure. Many happy memories of friends, teachers, hours playing on school playgrounds…rope swings hung from oaks branches…bouncing on trampolines…and most of riding our bikes to school. Mary Esther was a true neighborhood school…almost everyone walked/biked to school…even in the rain. That experience is what is missing in the lives of kids today.
Mary Esther enrollment does not seem down when kindergarten classes are packed at 22 and about 1/4 of those students are not 100% English speaking. I think there is more at play here than ME’s enrollment! This is just terrible, and I hope a more robust evaluation is performed before any further action!!!!!Go Thunderbirds you are in our thoughts and prayers!!!!!
Monetary issues and our incompetent superintendent wants to close schools. Why don’t we reduce the total number of administrative positions. The drop in student numbers should also reduce the number of administrative positions(principals and assistant principals) required. Under his reign we have had a 30+% increase in administrative positions while the students numbers have dropped. We need new leadership. Did either of these two schools receive any new construction? More mismanagement provided by Marcus and cronies.