Orange County Public Schools is bracing for a roughly $17 million hit to its state funding for the 2025–26 school year after Florida officials recalculated enrollment and found fewer students than the district expected. The money will be quietly skimmed from upcoming state payments instead of clawed back in a lump sum, but district leaders say it still stings in a budget already squeezed by shrinking enrollment.
According to WFTV, the reduction stems from the third Florida Education Finance Program calculation, which adjusts funding based on updated student counts. The State of Florida plans to withhold about $17 million from future FEFP payments. Michael Ollendorff, the district’s media relations administrator, told WFTV that OCPS has been “closely monitoring enrollment” and confirmed the third calculation produced the estimate of the funding loss.
How the State Calculation Works
The Florida Department of Education runs several FEFP calculations each year to decide how much money each district gets. The third calculation uses districts’ October student counts to recalculate funding and guide midyear payments, according to the Florida Department of Education. That recalculation is what changed Orange County’s scheduled payments and set up the state to withhold funds for the affected period.
Enrollment Trends That Led Here
The warning signs have been flashing for months. A 10‑day count last fall showed about 6,627 fewer students than OCPS had budgeted for, a shortfall that surfaced during public budget hearings, according to Spectrum/MyNews13. With fewer students comes less state money, and that reality has already reshaped classrooms.
The sudden drop forced the district to reassign around 116 teachers earlier this school year, officials told K12 Dive, as OCPS tried to line up staffing with the smaller enrollment picture.
What This Means for Classrooms
Board records show the General Fund is already down about $13.9 million from last year, and the school board has signed off on a $7.5 billion budget that trims operating expenses, Orange Observer reported. In other words, the belt-tightening started before this latest funding cut landed…