Pinellas County Schools outlined a strategy to attract and retain students at an Oct. 20 School Board workshop as the district grapples with roughly 45,000 empty seats.

For Palm Harbor and Dunedin families considering charter schools, private schools or homeschooling, the strategy offers a look at how the district hopes to compete for students amid declining enrollment.

Recruitment strategy

A district presentation prepared for the workshop divides the recruitment effort into three areas: district-produced content, news coverage and community word-of-mouth, and paid advertising across digital platforms, streaming services and local publications.

The strategy emphasizes partnerships with Realtors, parent-teacher associations, nonprofits, municipalities and preschool providers. Those partners would receive one-page school highlights and QR codes linking to enrollment information, helping families learn about public school options through trusted community connections.

The district also wants individual schools to promote their programs and achievements. The presentation calls for ready-to-use social media templates, a shared branding kit and a network of school-level communicators trained to post consistently.

According to the presentation, the district attended 55 community events during the 2025-26 school year and 19 during the 2026-27 school year as of Oct. 20.

The district is also considering hiring an outside recruitment partner. Superintendent Kevin Hendrick told the Tampa Bay Times that he had not pursued the idea extensively and that officials were far from reaching any agreements.

The presentation does not specify what an outside partner would do or how much the arrangement might cost.

Enrollment decline drives closures

The recruitment discussion followed the School Board's Oct. 13 vote to close and restructure schools in response to declining enrollment.

Kings Highway Elementary, Blanton Elementary, Bear Creek Elementary and Lealman Innovation Academy are among the schools slated for closure. Pinellas Park Elementary will close as a traditional neighborhood school, with a fundamental school planned for its campus.

The restructuring also includes changes to schools in Tarpon Springs and St. Petersburg. District leaders expect the changes to reduce operating costs and eliminate thousands of unused student seats.

The district enrolls about 85,800 students, according to WUSF. Only about 68% of children born in Pinellas County in 2020 enrolled in district schools, officials told WUSF in September.

"We know that these enrollment challenges will continue because we know what the birth rates are in Pinellas County and we know what cost of living is," Hendrick said at a Sept. 22 board meeting.

Hendrick also said economic research suggested district enrollment could eventually stabilize at about 60,000 students, WUSF reported.

Several Florida school districts have already hired outside firms to recruit students, sometimes reaching across county lines, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The Oct. 20 workshop was a discussion session, with no formal vote scheduled on the recruitment strategy.