PALATKA, Fla. — Action News Jax spoke with Superintendent Rick Surrency, Putnam County parent Miranda Aldrich, and Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Laura France about what’s driving the shift and how the district is responding.
The district’s enrollment decline is tied to growing use of the Family Empowerment Scholarship program, which allows families to redirect state education funding toward private school or other approved alternatives.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what’s happening, not only our district, but every district in Florida,” Surrency said.
Not a mass exodus, district says
According to the district’s own financial reporting, roughly 1,250 students in Putnam County are expected to use a school choice voucher this year, at a cost of about $11.5 million in lost revenue for the 2026-27 school year. State per-student funding in Putnam County works out to just over $9,300.
District finance officials say the number shouldn’t be read as 1,250 students abruptly leaving Putnam County public schools this year. Some were already receiving scholarships before this year, while others may have already been in private school or homeschooled and are only now drawing on public scholarship money.
Florida’s program has two branches: one open broadly to K-12 students, and one serving eligible students with disabilities through an education savings account. Traditional homeschool families don’t receive scholarship funding, and the state cross-checks recipients against public enrollment so no student is funded twice.
Aldrich said the shift away from traditional public school is something she’s seen firsthand.
“I have had friends that do homeschool their kids,” Aldrich said, adding that the decision to leave public school “depends on the family.”
Aldrich, however, has three children enrolled in Putnam County Schools and has been otherwise pleased with the district’s offerings.
Costs don’t shrink as fast as enrollment
District officials say the funding loss is harder to manage than it looks on paper. Instructional staffing decisions have to be finalized months before the school year starts, so when actual scholarship participation comes in higher than the state’s earlier estimate, the district has to absorb the difference after the fact. Families can still apply for new scholarships through Nov. 15, meaning the final number won’t be settled for months.
Surrency said the costs of running a district don’t scale down just because students leave.
“There’s still overhead,” Surrency said. “There’s still things like running buses and paying utilities.”
How the district is responding
The most visible change has been staffing. The district has not laid off teachers, Surrency said, but 24 instructional positions have been reallocated or eliminated this year.
“We did not lose — we did not lay off anybody. No one lost jobs,” Surrency said. “It’s just a reallocation of positions.”
Asked whether that could mean larger class sizes or a heavier workload for teachers, France said the district intends to hold the line.
“We will meet class size,” France said. “But it is just a reallocation of staffing so that the schools that have more children have the teachers that are needed to be there.”
The district has also been looking for savings outside the classroom, including leaving some administrative positions unfilled to see whether existing staff can absorb the work. Officials say Putnam may be somewhat better positioned than other districts because it began consolidating schools in 2021, ahead of the recent surge in voucher use — a move that cut some overhead costs even though the district still maintains a few closed buildings.
District leaders say they’re also changing how they market public schools to families, leaning on programs like STEM, career and technical education, and college-acceleration offerings that they say smaller private schools can’t easily match.
Surrency acknowledged the uncertainty ahead as enrollment numbers continue to shift, while saying he believes the district is equipped to manage it.
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