Seven of the nine Miami-Dade County Public Schools that did not reopen for the 2026-27 school year had majority-Black student populations, even though Black students make up only about 20% of enrollment in district-run schools.
The disparity surfaced publicly as thousands of displaced students reported to new campuses on Thursday, and as incoming Superintendent Rafael Villalobos acknowledged in a Miami Herald interview that the closures fell disproportionately in Black neighborhoods.
"I think that what we did was we prioritized, right? So we looked at those schools that were at 200 students or less, and, unfortunately, they fell in many of those neighborhoods," Villalobos told the Herald on Thursday.
The closed schools are Robert Russa Moton Elementary, Parkway Elementary, Phillis Wheatley Elementary, Rainbow Park Elementary, Lenora B. Smith Elementary, Pine Villa Elementary, Mandarin Lakes K-8 Academy, Miami Springs Middle School and Richmond Heights Middle School, according to WSVN.
School Board Chair Rojas caught in the middle
The equity question lands squarely in the lap of School Board Chair Mari Tere Rojas, who represents District 6 covering Coral Gables, South Miami and Coconut Grove. Rojas is negotiating Villalobos' contract ahead of a board meeting set for Wednesday to finalize its terms. Villalobos, who served as South Region superintendent overseeing more than 100 schools in the Coral Gables, South Miami and Pinecrest area, officially takes over from Superintendent Jose Dotres on Feb. 14, 2027.
As we reported July 29, the board unanimously selected Villalobos after he signaled that more consolidations are coming. "We definitely are going to have to do a little bit more, a little bit faster — and not necessarily just school closures," he said at the time.
'Tier two' schools next in line for consolidation
Villalobos told the Herald that future consolidations will target "tier two" schools with 250 to 350 students against capacities of 1,000 or more. Twenty-two of the 30 district schools with the lowest utilization rates sit in Black communities, according to M-DCPS enrollment data cited in a Miami Herald editorial published Wednesday.
The district lost roughly 13,000 students during the 2025-26 school year, a drop of about 4%, driven by falling birth rates, high cost of living and growth in charter and private school enrollment.
State's 'Schools of Hope' law opens door for charters
Florida's expanded "Schools of Hope" law requires districts to make underused and persistently low-performing campuses available to approved charter operators, often at low cost. Nearly all nine closed schools received letters of intent from charter operators under the law, according to the Herald. That provision could affect future closures in District 6 if utilization continues to decline at area schools.
Lissette Fernandez, co-founder of Moms for Libros, said the closures target the most vulnerable families. "These schools serve some of the highest-poverty communities in Miami-Dade," Fernandez told USA Today on Thursday.
The board meets Wednesday to finalize Villalobos' contract. No date has been announced for a vote on additional closures.
