During the Hillsborough County School Board meeting on Tuesday, board members approved plans to close schools and reassign students to nearby campuses.
Graham Elementary, Madison Middle School and Pizzo K-8 will close next school year and students will be split among nearby campuses.
Middle school students at Sulphur Springs K-8 will also be reassigned as the school reverts back to an elementary.
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District leaders said closures and the reshuffling of students helps maximize "operational efficiency" by consolidating underenrolled campuses.
These changes are routine, though unpopular, responses to a shifting population, but the district is also contending with an ever-tightening budget and a relatively new threat of takeovers from charter schools.
Board member Patti Rendon, referred to Mater Academy, which has sent notices to more than 20 "underutilized" Hillsborough schools for possible co-location.
"That is space that we don't get back. That is money that they are taking over, that we don't get to grow. That is what we are not in control of at all," said Rendon.
The district lost over 7,000 students since last year, Rendon said, which contributes to a drop in funding.
Expanding school choice options, including Florida's private school voucher program, have become more popular in recent years. State officials have also pointed to heightened immigration enforcement as a factor.
But while most schools facing closures are seeing falling enrollment, Pizzo K-8 is not. Instead, district leaders said a near tenfold rent hike is pushing the school out of its current home on USF's Tampa campus.
Teachers, parents and students urged board members to pause a vote on closing the school.
Christine Bennett, a teacher at the school, recited a poem.
"It breaks the bonds that took years to grow in ways that spreadsheets cannot show," said Bennet, who became emotional towards the end. "So here is now to side with heart, to not tear this place apart."
Some suggested keeping all of Pizzo's students together by moving them to Adams Middle School, which sits empty.
However, the district's deputy superintendent Chris Farkas said the 1,500-student capacity at Adams is too high. Moving Pizzo's 900 students would leave enough vacancy for a charter school to co-locate.
Parent Nicole Danny, said her grand daughter, who attends Pizzo, is experiencing her third school closure.
"She's going to a fourth school, fourth grade, that's crazy," said Danny. "We vote for you for reasons, and you're expecting those reasons to work for you at times like this, and not to just close schools like everybody said — for profit."
Pizzo has been operating for more than 30 years. It served as a training ground for USF's education majors, who eventually became teachers in the district. But USF's College of Education has struggled with low enrollment for years, and recently shuttered three master's programs.
A USF spokesperson said the university does not have plans yet for the land.
