Pinellas County School Board members are set to receive an update Tuesday on the district’s ongoing review of which schools could close or consolidate due to declining enrollment, with just weeks remaining before the new school year begins.

The update follows the closures of Cross Bayou Elementary and Disston Academy, which shut down for good in May. The district is now evaluating which schools could close at the end of the 2026-2027 school year. Three community meetings were held last week to gather feedback as part of the process. No final decision on closures or consolidations is expected until the fall.

Pinellas County Superintendent Kevin Hendrick said there is no predetermined number of schools the district plans to close, but said maintaining underutilized buildings is not financially sustainable. He said the district is weighing several factors when evaluating campuses, including building age and condition, maintenance costs, geographic location and the academic programs each school offers.

“The tougher part is the emotional side of when you have a beloved institution that is changing, whether that is consolidating, closing, repurposing,” Hendrick said. “Those things are emotional decisions, and that takes time.”

The district currently has approximately 45,000 empty student seats, which officials attribute in part to declining birth rates and falling enrollment. According to the district, only 68% of children born in Pinellas County in 2020 were enrolled in Pinellas County Schools during the last school year.

“With 45,000 open seats, obviously you could close a lot of schools, but we’re not interested in doing that,” Hendrick said. “We want to do what makes sense in a community.”

District leaders have said schools affected by the most recent round of consolidations will not be considered again during this next phase. That means students already reassigned after Cross Bayou Elementary’s closure will not face a second relocation as part of the upcoming decisions.

The school board is also expected to review proposed budget reductions affecting mental health funding at Tuesday’s meeting. The proposed budget includes a cut of just under $150,000 to mental health assistance. District officials said all current mental health services will remain in place for the upcoming school year despite the reduction.

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