Students walking into Dunedin's five public schools Tuesday, Aug. 11, are part of a shrinking district that lost more than 3,100 students last year and is projected to lose about 3,800 more this fall.
Florida Department of Education data shows Pinellas County Schools enrolled 87,876 students in 2024-25, down 3,145 — or 3.5% — from 91,021 the year before. The most recent school-by-school figures for Dunedin, reported by Pinellas Times, put the five campuses at:
- Dunedin High School: 1,221
- Dunedin Highland Middle School: 842
- Discovery Academy of Science: 722
- Garrison-Jones Elementary: 545
- Dunedin Elementary: 474
For comparison, Palm Harbor University High recorded 2,413 students in the same period, as we reported Aug. 10.
The numbers carry real budget consequences. School board member Laura Hine told colleagues at the April 28 board meeting that declining enrollment will cost the district roughly $13 million in state funding and that schools face staffing changes because of rising costs and state dollars that have not kept pace with inflation for two decades.
The district anticipates 3,600 fewer students in 2026-27, which will further reduce staffing allocations at individual schools.
Superintendent Kevin Hendrick has been blunt about the trajectory. "We have fewer kids and we know it, and it's not going to change," he said at a July 8 community forum, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The district has lost about 20,000 students since 2016-17 and now carries roughly 45,000 empty seats.
District officials attribute the decline to falling birth rates, the cost of living, hurricane displacement and a rise in homeschooling. Only 68% of children born in Pinellas County in 2020 were enrolled in district schools during the 2024-25 year, according to Bay News 9.
Dunedin High hosted one of the district's Planning for Progress community meetings on July 15, where officials shared school-specific data and gathered feedback on possible consolidations. No Dunedin campus has been publicly named on a closure list, but Hendrick said consolidation recommendations would come "most likely in late August or early September." School Board Chair Caprice Edmond said in July that those recommendations will be made public before a final board vote expected this fall, with approved changes taking effect in spring 2027.
The district already closed Cross Bayou Elementary and Disston Academy and merged Bay Point's elementary and middle schools earlier this year.
Families who want to weigh in can watch for the public release of recommendations on the district's newsroom page and provide feedback before the board votes.
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