OKEECHOBEE — When it comes to education and public schools the word “enrollment” has been coming up more frequently and part of that is because of the effect enrollment numbers have on the district’s budget for the schools.

A large portion of K-12 funding comes from the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP) which allocates a base amount of money per student enrolled. This means that if there is a significant increase or decrease in the number of students enrolled, there will be a subsequent shift in the flow of revenue from the FEFP. 

The question is: is enrollment in Okeechobee County Public Schools decreasing, increasing, or staying relatively the same from year to year?

To determine the answer, we asked Okeechobee County Schools to give us the enrollment total for the current school year so we could compare it to the enrollment numbers of previous years.

According to Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services of Okeechobee Schools Dr. Joseph Stanley, the enrollment total for the 2026-2027 school year is 5,925 as of September.

Enrollment totals for the last five years according to the Florida Department of Education are as follows:

2025-2026 – 5,858

2024-2025 – 6,081

2023-2024 – 6,360

2022-2023 – 6,351

2021-2022 – 6,277

*Note: Numbers from FDE website spring totals.

Dr. Joseph Stanley provided the totals prior to 2021 and they are:

2019-2020 – 6122

2018-2019 – 6353

According to the Okeechobee School District’s budget for the 2026-2027 school year the Base Student Allocation (BSA) from FEFP funds was approximately $5,457.60 per student. That sum changes yearly depending on varying costs of living, varying local property taxes, and varying educational programs, but it provides an idea of what the district can lose each year if enrollment numbers go down.

For example, in the 2025-2026 school year when enrollment decreased by 223 students from the previous year, if the BSA had been equal to that of this year at $5,457.60, the total loss in funds would have been $1,217,044.80.

Despite the 2026-2027 enrollment total being slightly higher than last school year’s, enrollment for the Okeechobee School District is down 428 students since the 2018-2019 school year.

If it continues to drop the community can expect to see that reflected in the funds the district receives from state programs in years to come.