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Thousands enroll in Florida schools in wake of Hurricane Maria; housing a major issue

Thousands enroll in Florida schools in wake of Hurricane Maria; housing a major issue

by DeVore Design, December 13, 2017

More than 7,200 students from Puerto Rico have enrolled in Florida’s K-12 public schools, and another 800 in state colleges, since Hurricane Maria slammed the island in September, and education leaders said Tuesday a lack of affordable housing is presenting challenges for those who have been displaced.

“The consistent thread throughout all the discussions has been housing,” Lake-Sumter State College President Stanley Sidor told members of the State Board of Education, who traveled to Leesburg for their monthly meeting.

Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said public schools have hired bus drivers, teachers and aides to handle the influx of students, focused heavily in Central Florida and the Miami area. A total of 7,212 students uprooted from Puerto Rico and 710 from the U.S. Virgin Islands are now in Florida classrooms.

“The colleges have been working just like the K-12 system on making the enrollment process as easy as possible,” Stewart said.

Osceola County saw the biggest impact, with 1,218 new students, a 2.2 percent increase in enrollment since the start of the school year. Orange County has welcomed 1,793 new students, a 0.8 percent increase in the district’s student body. Of those, 1,561 are Puerto Ricans. Those numbers are expected to increase.

“That’s like three schools,” State Board of Education member Gary Chartrand said of the increase in Orange. “Do we have the facilities? And I would guess all of them are second-language English, so you’ve got an additional challenge of teachers that can teach English.”

Stewart replied that there is enough space to accommodate the 0.2 percent increase in statewide enrollment.

“They do have buildings that they can move to some locations and, yes, in almost every case, there are ELL [English-language learner] students and those add a challenge and … they’ve been hiring,” she said.

Chartrand said he was worried whether districts had the resources to handle the new students pouring in.

The Central Florida School Boards Coalition, which represents Orange, Osceola and 11 other school districts, has pleaded with lawmakers for financial help to handle the extra students.

“I have been writing letters to the Legislature, governor and the commissioner of education,” Orange County School Board member Linda Kobert told the Sentinel. “So far, we’ve had zero response on funding.”

Stewart said at the meeting that the federal government has indicated dollars could be available to help but had not yet provided specifics.

State officials also expect more displaced college students to take advantage of an offer of in-state tuition to rise next year. Tuition for Florida residents is about $3,200 per semester compared with $11,200 for those from out of state.

“We do anticipate that there will be more students that will be coming as individuals are able to leave Puerto Rico,” Stewart said.

Valencia College has admitted 240 students — up from about 120 earlier this month — who left because of the hurricane. University of Central Florida has admitted 242.

But Sidor and other education officials said finding suitable housing has been difficult for many.

“We expect to see some students enroll with us, but we’re all challenged finding housing for them and their extended families,” he said.

Even before Maria destroyed much of the islands’ infrastructure and sent thousands to Florida, a lack of affordable housing was in issue in Central Florida.

Florida lawmakers have shifted more than $1 billion from the affordable housing trust fund to general spending in the past decade. A national housing study published this spring ranked Metro Orlando as the third-worst in the country for housing low-income residents.

“The doors are open; we welcome Puerto Rican students to our colleges,” Sidor said. “But we recognize there is an infrastructure problem.”

jruiter@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5927