Kiara Benoit

Image depicting the declining presence of student in class. (Kiara Benoit)

For many students, getting to school starts long before the first bell. It can mean early morning train rides, long drives across the county, and families rearranging work schedules. 

While classrooms remain full and auditions competitive, the choices families make to get students through those doors reflect broader shifts happening across Palm Beach County. Since the beginning of the school year, Palm Beach County public schools have lost over 6,000 students, according to CBS12 News.

FAMILY EMPOWERMENT SCHOLARSHIPS (VOUCHERS)

According to the Florida Department of Education (FDE), in 2023, Governor Ron Desantis passed Family Empowerment Scholarships (FES), meant to incentivize parents to send their kids into private schools, into law.  These scholarships were designed to help “empower every family and every child to achieve their educational goals. (FDE)” They come in two branches: the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options and the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities. 

The educational options branch provides families with funding to send their children to a private or charter school and is open to all K-12 students. It prioritizes those whose household income level does not exceed 185% of the federal poverty level (74k for a four person family). The unique abilities branch, exclusive to students with disabilities, offers a personal savings account where parents receive a deposit of public funds. FES receives over $2.68 billion in funding from the state of Florida’s general revenue fund. That wealth is distributed amongst over 220,000 students in the state. 

Between the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, 6,596 additional vouchers were distributed in PBC. The amount of funding rerouted from public schools to private as a result of the rise in vouchers has increased, with as of 2024-2025 77% of state funding going to public schools. Believing these vouchers provide necessary “education freedom” for parents, Governor DeSantis is “proud” of the number of vouchers provided, as  he has said in press releases and interviews. 

As voucher participation and distribution increases, the broader enrollment context in which Dreyfoos operates continues to be affected. While Dreyfoos is a public school with audition-based admissions, it draws from the same districtwide student population affected by expanding school choice options. As more students enroll in private, charter, or alternative education programs, the total number of students attending public schools in Palm Beach County declines. An informal survey conducted by The Muse found that 76.7% of respondents personally knew someone who had left a Palm Beach County public school for a private, charter, homeschool, or out-of-district option. It should be noted that some of these private schools, such as American Heritage, also offer arts programs in dance, theatre, and more.

“Since I was in elementary school, my goal was always to attend Dreyfoos,” senior at American Heritage and recipient of a fine arts scholarship, Marcelo Salas said. “I learned about American Heritage in 8th grade and they made an offer I couldn’t resist. I even got into Dreyfoos but chose to decline. If I did not receive the scholarship, I wouldn’t be attending American Heritage and would be at Dreyfoos.”

THE COST OF LIVING

The costs of housing, transportation, and utilities has widened the affordability gap for many Floridians. The affordability gap is defined as the difference between what an individual or family earns and what housing and necessities actually cost. If a family can no longer afford to live in Palm Beach due to rising living expenses, they may be forced to move to a nearby county or out of state entirely.

Besides the economic impact this leaves on the local community by removing local consumers, the children of relocating families must transfer from their respective schools, dropping enrollment rates. The School District of Palm Beach County identified this to CBS12 News as a leading cause of enrollment decline.

“I live in Delray, which isn’t too far, but still 30 minutes,” communications junior Marton Papp said. “It makes it difficult for me to get to school at times when I’m not taking Tri-Rail because that’s a one hour (round) trip. It’s expensive to pay for gas.”

At Dreyfoos, affordability pressures at school extend beyond housing and into the daily logistics of commuting to a countywide magnet campus. Unlike some neighborhood schools,  students from across Palm Beach County travel to attend school. This requires many families to manage daily commutes that are not always supported by district-provided transportation. Students often rely on personal vehicles, Tri-Rail, or multiple transit connections. This makes attendance contingent on fuel costs, transit schedules, and family availability. When transportation becomes less feasible, families may opt for schools closer to home. Which is a contributing factor to shifts in enrollment distribution across the district. 

IMMIGRATION 

According to School Board Member Edwin Ferguson, immigration concerns are an additive stressor causing dropping enrollment rates. Following President Donald Trump’s reelection in 2025, Immigrations Customs Enforcement (ICE) has steadily increased its amount of conducted “raids.” President Trump believes “They haven’t gone far enough,” as stated in an interview with  CBS News, signaling more to come.

Since 2025, the Miami Herald has reported that over 20,000 people have been arrested based on immigration charges in Florida. The School District of Palm Beach County has not issued a public statement addressing immigration enforcement or its potential impact on enrollment. Palm Beach County is estimated to have approximately 130,000 unauthorized immigrants. In response to growing raids, families may be deported or self-deported, an instance in which a person or family willingly returns to their home country out of fear of deportation or detention. As a result, some students are removed from or leave their school. 

There is no strong correlative data between the ICE raids of 2024-2025 and the smaller public school enrollment seen from the Hispanic population in the 2025-2026 school year. However, immigration tensions remain a contributor to the decline as Homeland Security recorded “605,000 illegal aliens (deported) and another 1.9 million (having) self-deported” since January 2025.

“It can be really scary because you could have all the proof that you were an American citizen and you could still be detained by ICE,” musical theatre sophomore Kourtnee Allen said. “It would make sense for students to not want to come to school or not want to be in the public because of the risk of being wrongfully detained.” 

Discussions around immigration also intersect with the access and stability within a countywide magnet school setting. Changes affecting families’ ability to feel safe or  emain in the area can influence enrollment. While the full impact is difficult to quantify, immigration-related concerns remain part of the broader context facing students and families. 

SCHOOL AND DEPARTMENT EFFECTS:

Despite the drop in enrollment district wide, Dreyfoos’ enrollment has remained stable, accepting the same number of applicants into the school as seen in other years. Some art departments such as digital arts and photography are even seeing an increase in applicants and students accepted into the department. The stabilized enrollment, according to Principal Blake Bennett, is sustained majorly from its audition-only acceptance structure. While the amount of applicants for a department may fluctuate per year, the amount of applicants accepted into the school stays consistent, enabling enrollment to do so as well.

From the 2024-2025 school year to the 2025-2026 school year, 11th Day Count district reports find the school has remained at 111% capacity. This means there are more students on campus than what the school is intended to hold. Although this suggests that it remains unaffected by the causes of diminishing enrollment in public schools, communications dean Angela Anyzeski finds the school may be vulnerable to the lasting effects of a district losing students. These implications span from budget cuts to minimized available course selection. 

“You lose enrollment, you lose teachers,” Mrs.  Anyzeski said. “You could potentially lose course offerings and could have teachers that are part time or splitting time with other departments. There’s a lot of different consequences.” 

For the 2025-2026 school year, the school experienced a slight increase in applicants. Overall, there was a wider distribution of applicants from middle schools in the district rather than a large concentration from Bak Middle School Of the Arts (MSOA) as seen previously. Assistant principal Alyssa Arterburn and Principal Bennett attribute this change not only to increased on-the-ground middle school outreach from administration, but also to initiatives taken on by teachers. The 2025-2026 school year follows a period of increased initiatives to attract students to the school. Administration has hosted multiple middle school visits to the campus and increased outreach to schools throughout the district. 

“Even if every dancer from Bak applied, we don’t have enough room to fit them all,”  Mrs. Arterburn said. “We’re getting all these kids from different places that could bump some kids out of seat.”

District enrollment data show that in the 2025 – 2026 school year, 24% of students from Bak attended other schools within the district. Several differences between schools help explain that distribution. Unlike other high schools in the district, Dreyfoos does not offer the Cambridge AICE Diploma or Cambridge program. This may be a factor for families prioritizing that academic pathway and aiming to obtain the Bright Futures scholarship with the diploma. 

“Dreyfoos was one of my options (for high school) and it was really hard to choose between the two (Dreyfoos and Park Vista) because they were on the same level for me,” sophomore at Oxbridge Academy Trinity David said. “Cambridge was important. I think having the option to participate in the Cambridge Scholars program did justify my choice. I miss a lot of the people that I went to middle school with, but overall I feel confident in my decision.” 

Conversely, Mrs. Arterburn believes the school’s “world-class” academic offerings play a notable role in its ability to see an uptick of 19 students having chosen the school as their first or second choice since the previous audition season. Aside from academics, dance dean Heather Lescaille and the dance department have “expanded the program in a lot of ways,” to adjust to changing preferences of students over the years, bringing in contemporary and precision dance. 

“We try to track where (former students)  are going to school, where their jobs are, and we try to make sure that (the) department is current and able to offer those (tracks of dance students stick to post-graduation) so students can have those opportunities when they graduate,” Mrs. Lescaille said.

LOOKING FORWARD 

As Palm Beach County public schools adjust to continued enrollment decline, the entire state follows suit. For districts across the state, and by extension schools, enrollment numbers play a central role in planning decisions for staffing, budgeting, and program offerings. As demographic patterns, housing costs, and school choice participation continue to shift, enrollment remains a central factor shaping how public schools plan ahead.

When public schools rapidly lose students, a domino effect occurs. State funding for the district is tied to enrollment. The district receives a set amount of money per child enrolled in a public school from the state. They lose access to those funds if a student leaves the county to enroll in another district or shift their education journey to a charter or private school. If the downward trend continues, the district will be faced with decisions regarding tightening school budgets. In turn, school administrations county wide will be tasked with dissolving programs, shrinking class sizes, and laying off teachers due to a lack of monetary support. In the event of Dreyfoos having to follow suit, this change could be particularly damaging to the dance department which has only two full time educators. 

In the future, administrators believe that the school’s “special” nature coupled with its offering of “an arts education that also parallels high academic rigor,” according to Mrs. Arterburn, will keep it stabilized. However, if enrollment issues continue to sweep through the district in upcoming years, the school, regardless of its culture, will be impacted.

“Dreyfoos, in my mind, always has to deliver a world-class art and academic education no matter what, it always has to rival,” Principal Bennett said. “As things happen and change, we need to make sure that we’re researching and doing our due diligence to make sure that we give our students the best education possible, and that our students reach their highest potential.”