Rendon says Plant City enrollment has increased.
Across the Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) system, reporting concluded enrollment is down this year. Data indicates the 2024-2025 40-day enrollment totaled 222,259. For the 2025-2026 school year, 40-day enrollment was 213,513; a drop of 8,746 students, or 3.9 percent. These numbers include charter schools. However, last year’s totals for HCPS may need to be taken with a grain of salt. When HCPS attempted to bring a new system online during the 2024-2025 school year, it failed. The system, called Synergy, corrupted data on student transcripts, student attendance, and enrollment numbers, among other things. Months of attempts to fix the system were not successful.
Several speculations have been aired to explain the decline. Among these are Florida’s Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options, students transitioning to homeschooling, and a population decline. However, “It has been proven 99 percent of the state Empowerment Scholarships are used by students that were never in traditional schools, but already in private schools,” Patti Rendon, HCPS School Board member for District 4, said. Another counter is, according to Worldpopulationreview.com, the 2025 Hillsborough County population is 1,605,539, a growth of 1.52 percent from 2024. So, there was no population decline, but instead, it increased.
By all accounts, the current administration has drastically reduced the flow of people crossing the border. There is an open question about whether the federal policy has affected HCPS enrollment. The school system does track the number of students in Hillsborough County who are children of migrant farm workers, but that count has not yet been made public.
The HCPS data showed these changes in enrollment numbers for Plant City Schools.
Bryan Elementary
2024-2025: 624
2025-2026: 552
Burney Elementary
2024-2025: 360
2025-2026: 369
Cork Elementary
2024-2025: 718
2025-2026: 689
Dover Elementary
2024-2025: 540
2025-2026: 507
Jackson Elementary
2024-2025: 455
2025-2026: 435
Knights Elementary
2024-2025: 638
2025-2026: 679
Lincoln Elementary
2024-2025: 514
2025-2026: 498
Robinson Elementary
2024-2025: 523
2025-2026: 480
Springhead Elementary
2024-2025: 752
2025-2026: 672
Trapnell Elementary
2024-2025: 426
2025-2026: 390
Walden Lake Elementary
2024-2025: 817
2025-2026: 817
Wilson Elementary
2024-2025: 331
2025-2026: 292
Marshall Middle
2024-2025: 1,074
2025-2026: 1,081
Tomlin Middle
2024-2025: 1,347
2025-2026: 1,299
Turkey Creek Middle
2024-2025: 1,006
2025-2026: 909
Plant City High School
2024-2025: 2,583
2025-2026: 2,625
Simmons Career Center
2024-2025: 133
2025-2026: 106
Simmons Exceptional Center
2024-2025: 29
2025-2026: 45
Durant High School
2024-2025: 2,515
2025-2026: 2,407
Strawberry Crest High School
2024-2025: 2,511
2025-2026: 2,417
Patti Rendon, HCPS School Board member for District 4, which includes east and south county schools, contends with the figures and the analysis. “Last year’s count was way off from a system failure,” she said. “It was inflated. There should not be a decline. My count for my district is up.”
Marshall Middle Magnet School is an example of a school in Plant City where there is a clear enrollment increase, which has been confirmed by its principal, Dennis Mayo. Since he has been in the position, his team has worked proactively to stay ahead of increasing student numbers that come from the growth in Plant City’s population. For example, since students have laptops these days, there is no longer a need for computer labs, sp these rooms were converted to normal classroom spaces. The school still has a few more seats. Mayo expected the enrollment to increase to 1,100 this year. However, he is aware that some students transitioned to Plant City Christian Academy, which opened fully last year.
To what does Mayo attribute the school’s retention of students and growth in the student body? “We have a stable product,” Mayo said. “We have added programs parents and kids want. We have the largest band in HCPS. We added an orchestra this year. We have a strong art program and culinary program. We have a boys and girls club to make sure students whose parents are working have a safe place to stay after school. We do things to engage students beyond class, like the chess club, Gentlemen’s Quest, and Future Farmers of America. We recruit and retain quality teachers. The kids know they will have consistency with their teachers, and they are very happy with that. We are trying to give all students a pathway to accelerate their education and prepare for high school academic programs. My vision is that we get it right every day for every student.”
