Pinellas County Schools is moving toward closing seven underused campuses in a plan district leaders say would eliminate nearly 5,000 empty seats and save taxpayers roughly $25 million a year, even as some parents pushed back at emotional town hall meetings this week.

The schools recommended for closure are Sexton, Blanton, Bear Creek, Tarpon Springs Fundamental, Kings Highway, and Azalea Elementary, along with Lealman Innovation Academy. The district held three community meetings Tuesday at Sexton Elementary, Boca Ciega High School and Tarpon Springs Fundamental to collect feedback ahead of a school board vote scheduled for Oct. 13.

A district built for a bigger county

The push to consolidate campuses is being driven by a demographic reality that has been building for years: Pinellas County simply isn’t producing the number of school-age children it once did. The county averaged about 10,000 births a year in the 1990s; that figure has fallen to fewer than 7,000 annually today.

That decline has left the district maintaining far more building space than it needs, and taxpayers footing the bill for utilities, maintenance and staffing at campuses running well under capacity. Superintendent Kevin Hendrick has framed the plan as stewardship rather than austerity, telling families the district’s focus is “quality over quantity” regardless of how many buildings it ultimately operates.

Parents raise concerns over disruption

Not every family is convinced the trade-off is worth it. Sarah Henley, whose children attend Sexton Elementary, said her family chose the school specifically for the continuity it offered through a full public-school pathway. “Without that continuity of care, I don’t know if we’ll stay in public schools,” she said.

District officials have signaled that school closures wouldn’t simply mean empty buildings going to waste — Hendrick told parents there is a strong possibility the Sexton campus could be leased to the YMCA if the school closes, keeping the property in community use rather than leaving it vacant at taxpayer expense.

What’s next

The Pinellas County School Board will hold additional meetings with parents, students, and teachers at the affected campuses before its final vote on Oct. 13. If approved, the seven schools would close after the 2026-27 school year.

Whatever families decide about the emotional cost of consolidation, the numbers behind the proposal are difficult to dispute: a district built to serve a far larger student population is now being asked to right-size itself, and $25 million a year is the kind of recurring savings that could otherwise go toward teacher pay, program funding or, just as reasonably, lower costs for the taxpayers footing the bill for empty classrooms.

Follow the St. Pete-Clearwater Sun on Facebook, Google, & X

St. Pete-Clearwater Sun: local St. Pete-Clearwater & Tampa Bay, FL news at PIE-Sun.com