📉 Two south Okaloosa elementary schools may close after years of steep enrollment drops and growing financial strain.
🏫 Students at Mary Esther and Longwood would be rezoned as the district consolidates campuses to stabilize budgets.
🔍 District leaders say the North–South enrollment divide is widening, with Crestview booming and southern communities shrinking.
NICEVILLE — Superintendent Marcus Chambers will recommend the closure of Mary Esther Elementary School and Longwood Elementary School at the end of the 2025–2026 school year, citing steep enrollment declines and growing fiscal pressures in the southern end of Okaloosa County.
Chambers plans to formally present the proposal to the Okaloosa County School Board in January and is requesting that the board hold a public hearing on the matter in February. Under the plan, students currently attending the two schools would be rezoned to other south-county elementary campuses.
The recommendation comes as district leaders confront what Assistant Superintendent John Spolski recently described as a widening demographic divide between the north and south ends of the county.
In a workshop held in November, district officials said enrollment is surging in Crestview and surrounding communities, while schools in Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Niceville, and other southern areas continue to lose students at an accelerated rate.
“We have a tale of two regions,” Spolski said during a board workshop in November. “Everything north of the Shoal River is going through enormous growth … and the South is a totally different tale. We’re seeing extreme constriction.”
District projections, developed with consulting firm MGT, show that Crestview-area elementary schools will gain more than 850 students over the next 11 years. By contrast, elementary campuses in the central and southern zones are expected to lose roughly 1,100 students during the same period.
In a statement, Chambers said the financial implications are unavoidable. Florida’s funding model is primarily based on student enrollment, meaning schools with shrinking enrollments cannot sustain the staffing and operational costs required to remain open.
“Not unlike other Florida school districts, we are facing both fiscal and declining student enrollment challenges,” Chambers said in a statement. “In order to manage these issues responsibly and proactively, we have, over the course of the last two school years, conducted an extensive review of these ongoing budget constraints and the impact that school capacity, as affected by declining student enrollment trends in the south end of our school district, has on operational costs.”
This year alone, the district had expected to lose about 450 students, according to state projections. Instead, the number was closer to 1,000 once demographic changes and the growing use of state-funded vouchers were factored in.
Private and charter schools in the South End, particularly Rocky Bayou Christian School and Liza Jackson Preparatory School, have continued to grow, further pressuring district enrollment.
In the November meeting, Board Chair Lamar White highlighted the district’s financial challenge: “You can’t operate a school with empty seats because you don’t have the revenue,” he said.
Chambers acknowledged the emotional weight of closing campuses but emphasized that the decision is driven by long-term sustainability.
“Decisions like this are never easy and can be unpopular,” he said in a statement. “We must consider the impact on our students, families, and staff while, at the same time, fulfilling our duty to this community to keep the school district educationally and fiscally sound. This recommendation has been carefully developed to balance these considerations and to ensure our students are able to continue to receive the quality education that our families have grown to expect.”
District officials have said any facility changes, including consolidations, boundary adjustments, or repurposing of buildings, will be data-driven and aimed at preserving strong educational opportunities as population centers shift northward.
Chambers is expected to bring formal recommendations to the board early next year. If the board agrees to schedule a February public hearing, families and staff will have an opportunity to comment before any final decision is made.
Pro Communi Bono
St. Francis De Sales, Ora Pro Nobis!
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