By Reggie Connell, Managing Editor
Melissa Byrd is more than just a member of the Orange County School Board—she’s a tireless advocate who has turned her passion for education into a mission to create lasting change. From championing an end to the unfair treatment of female students in dress code issues to fighting for the early construction and opening of the first K-8 school in District 7 (Kelly Park School) to relieve the overcrowded Wolf Lake Schools, Byrd’s work is deeply rooted in her belief that every student deserves the opportunity to succeed, no matter their circumstances. Her hands-on approach and unwavering commitment to her community have made her a standout leader in the ever-evolving landscape of public education.
I reached out to Byrd earlier this summer, just after she won a third term on the Orange County School Board as an unopposed candidate for District 7. We discussed a range of subjects that impact Apopka students and their families, but none more than school overcrowding. It's where we begin this three-part series entitled "A Conversation with Melissa Byrd."
School overcrowding and portables still seem to be a concern in Apopka. What have you done to address these issues?
This was the first major issue I tackled when I was first elected in 2018. At the time, the Wolf Lake schools were extremely overcrowded, with over 40 portables. At the time, no relief school was planned to be built until 2026. I quickly worked with the community, staff, and city council and advocated for relief. Six months after I was elected, we got the relief school moved up to 2022 and had it changed to a K-8 to relieve both schools. Kelly Park School opened in August 2022 and currently has 200 students under capacity. The Wolf Lake schools are no longer greatly overcrowded, and all but five of the portables have been removed from the campuses.
When I got elected, I made it my mission to learn everything I could about how OCPS plans for schools and handles the rapid growth we experience here with such limited resources. Every chance I got from the dais, I reiterated that when the Beltway was completed in Apopka, growth, and development would explode, and we had to be ready for it.
It’s important to know that the state does not provide any funding for building schools. All that money is raised locally through taxes and impact fees. Luckily, we have a generous community that has approved a half-penny sales tax since 2003. This tax has helped supplement the shortfalls and allowed the district to renovate, replace, and build new schools to keep up with rapid growth.
You might be interested to know that in the years since 2006, while OCPS student enrollment increased by more than 31,000 students, we reduced the number of portables by 65 percent. That’s amazing. No other district is anywhere close to us in the new school building. We open new schools every year and often open multiple schools.
We also have to remember that Apopka is not the only fastest-growing area in Orange County, and our schools are not nearly as overcrowded as other areas. Lake Nona High School is over capacity by 1800 students, and Timber Creek High School is over by 1,000. Apopka High School had 158 students over capacity at the end of this school year, and Wekiva had 733 students under capacity.
When we look at the district as a whole, we have to prioritize projects since funding is so limited, especially since it costs around $230 million to build a high school. That is where planning and projections come into play and are so important. This has become more difficult since the expansion of vouchers because it is more difficult to predict how many students a development will produce since we cannot know how many residents will use vouchers and not attend their local school. In fact, Apopka High School ended up having fewer students than was projected this year. About 200 less. This makes future planning difficult.
It’s also important to understand that in the state of Florida, operating budgets for the districts are determined by the number of students in seats. A school budget is based on the students attending that school. A school with more students has a larger budget than a school with fewer students. This is key when looking at Apopka High School. If we had unlimited capital dollars and had a new high school in Apopka open tomorrow, as I see people on social media say we should have, we would have maybe 300 students to put in that school since AHS is only 158 over capacity.
Even if we took 500 students and put them in the new school, that would not produce enough funding to create an operating budget to run a high school. High schools depend on a large number of students to produce the funding needed to hire all the teachers that are required to offer all of the classes and electives that students need. Students and families would not be happy with a high school that offered only core classes with no electives or extracurricular activities and that would not provide an equitable education for those students.
So we wait. We wait for the developments to be built and for the students to move in, and when we have enough students to open a robust new school, we do it. But we plan, buy land, and get ready, which is what we do.
In my time on the board, I have worked really hard on getting to know our facility planners and their processes, as well as the developers in our area. As expected, development around the Kelly Park expressway last fall was booming, so I brought some developers downtown to meet with all of our facility staff to compare information about future projects and discuss plans for future schools.
I’m very proud to say that their relationships have continued, and plans for the best placement and timing for relief schools have progressed well.
At a previous budget meeting, we learned that the 10-year capital plan includes four new schools, including a new high school, for the Apopka area. I can confidently say that we are ready for the impending growth that is headed our way.
At this time, all 15 schools in the Apopka area are under capacity except for five, and none have more than 158 students over capacity, with one having only seven students over.
In Conversations with Melissa Byrd—Part Two, we discuss running unopposed, Byrd's accomplishments in her first two terms, future plans, and the Orange Technical College - Apopka Campus.
Editor's Note: The cost to build a new high school was revised in a later edition of this article.
