- April 18, 2025
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Could Volusia County Schools' budget woes lead to school closures? Is Ormond Beach Elementary on the "chopping block?"
At the board's meeting on Tuesday, April 8, District 4 Volusia County School Board member Donna Brosemer said district staff informed her of this possibility, which led her to fund a solution to make the district more competitive to retain and attract students. OBE is a Title 1 school, but is performing the best out of the District 4 schools, Brosemer said.
"It's safe to say that Ormond Beach parents are not going to take kindly to the loss of yet another of their elementary schools, having lost Osceola so recently, and they would be some of the most likely parents to go to the conversion option that appears that's going to pass this year," she said.
Osceola Elementary was closed in 2021 as the district merged it with Ortona Elementary to create Beachside Elementary. The conversion option referenced by Brosemer, where parents can push for a public school to become a charter, could be a possibility if Senate Bill 140 is approved.
"So instead of sitting back and thinking that we just have to watch it go away, I have spoken with the principal, and with intentionality, we decided to attract more students," Brosemer said. "... It will be an arts magnet school."
Brosemer's comments took the board – and Superintendent Carmen Balgobin — by surprise.
Earlier in the day, the board held a workshop where it discussed a $25.8 million budget deficit. During staff's presentation, they spoke about the optimal amount of students needed to be enrolled at an elementary school for it to break even financially. That number was 750.
OBE has 363 students, according to the Florida Department of Education. In fact, none of the Ormond Beach area elementary schools reach a student enrollment count of 750. DOE data shows Beachside has 618, Pine Trail Elementary has 737, Tomoka has 652 and Pathways has 667.
Balgobin denied that any conversations on closing schools have taken place.
"I don't know where the narrative came from, what schools were going to be closing, because I have not even discussed that with staff," she said.
"It came from my discussion with staff," Brosemer replied.
"My staff discussed that with you and shared with you the schools that will be closing?" Balgobin pressed.
Brosemer said staff informed her the closures were "two to three years out."
"Well, I'm not going to put anyone on the spot, but this is what I can assert and tell you — I have not had that discussion with any staff members," Balgobin said.
Brosemer said she wouldn't have brought it up if it hadn't been said to her.
Balgobin said she's heard from principals say "conversation are taking place that we're cutting, closing schools." Again, she said those discussions have not taken place at the district level.
Board members also admonished Brosemer for seemingly making a decision to turn OBE into a arts magnet school on her own.
"Unfortunately, that's not the way this works," School Board member Ruben Colon said. "There are five of us. We are a board. ... Where teachers go, what programs are added, what programs are taken away – that's not in our wheelhouse. We have zero control over that."
The board, he continued, can work with the superintendent to bring new programs and make changes, but individual board members cannot make those decisions on their own.
Colon said he agreed with what Brosemer had spoken about (during her closing comments, she also spoke about addressing classroom conditions and pursuing school program enhancements to attract students). He also referenced pressures from the state to embrace the Step Up for Students program, which provides scholarships for students attending private schools.
"We are fighting a losing battle," Colon said. "Public education is being slammed. You're absolutely right. There are tough decisions to make."
But school closures would affect many, he added. He's not ready to do that.
School Board member Krista Goodrich said she was also confused at hearing OBE was on the chopping block.
"I've had numerous conversations about a gazillion ideas out there, and that has not been one of them," Goodrich said.
Brosemer countered that the notion they function as a board "is correct in one regard, but it's also completely misleading in another."
"We all bring our own talents, our own perspectives, and if we're just here to rubber stamp each other or to rubber stamp the superintendent or anybody else, then we're not doing our jobs," she said.
Goodrich said that it was "curious" to her that Brosemer brought up these statements at the regular board meeting, and not during the workshop where they were discussing the budget.
"It makes it feel pretty intentional when we had plenty of opportunities to bring up a lot of these questions earlier today," she said. "Yes, we do all bring something to the table, but when you approach things in a way that isn't having a discussion, it's at the end when it's just statements, that's not working together — that's not operating as a team, that's not looking for solutions."
Brosemer said she didn't need to do it Goodrich's way.
"I didn't say you had to do it my way," Goodrich said. "I'm allowed to share my opinion as well. So that's what's devastating — is you could have brought it up this morning. We could have had great conversations about it, asked questions, got answers, but that wasn't done that way."
School Board Chair Jamie Haynes said low enrollment in schools is not a hidden secret, and they have spoken about some schools struggling in that department, as well those in need of expensive repairs. But decisions have to be made as a board.
"I have no direction to tell staff what we're going to do or what we're not going to do, because it'll be decided here in the boardroom," Haynes said. "Whatever plan Dr. Balgobin and her staff comes up with will be brought to us, and we will vote on it, and whatever the vote is at the time ... at that point it becomes the decision of the board and we each have to own the decision when we make that vote."
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