St. Johns Schools Close a $23 Million Gap: 130 Teaching Jobs Cut, 150 Portables Gone Before Monday's First Bell

St. Johns County students go back to class Monday, Aug. 10, in a district that just erased a $23 million hole by cutting roughly 130 instructional positions, pulling 150 leased portable classrooms off its campuses and putting three planned schools on hold. Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen said the books are balanced. Families will feel how that happened from the first bell, mostly in the form of bigger classes and reshuffled seats.

The district ended last year $23 million in the red on a budget of about $1.5 billion. Asplen said closing it meant reductions at every level, starting with his own building.

The portables went away because the leases went away. Students who had been in them were moved into open seats inside existing school buildings, which Asplen said was worth doing regardless of the budget.

Bigger classes, and still some empty desks up front

Asplen was direct about the trade-off: cutting 130 teaching positions affects class sizes. Not every classroom feels it equally. When the reduction plan was laid out at a board workshop in February, district leaders estimated an average increase of about two students per class, managed through schoolwide averages rather than a hard cap in each room. Some classes will grow more than two. Some will not grow at all.

Hiring is not finished. As of July 29 the district was still actively recruiting for about 60 teaching positions. Asplen said he expected that number to be nearer 20 by the time school starts, with vacancies continuing to open through retirements and other departures.

Why the money disappeared

Growth, or the lack of it. This district built its budget on an expected 4 percent enrollment increase and got about 1 percent, roughly 1,000 fewer students than planned for. Florida funds schools per student, so those missing students triggered an $8 million deficit for the year just finished, with another $15 million projected for the year starting Monday.

Behind that sits the state's expanded voucher program. Around 6,000 St. Johns County students now use vouchers, and the dollars follow the child out the door while buses, buildings, meals and special education costs stay put. It is the same squeeze other Northeast Florida districts are describing this month.

The February plan that got the district here ran to roughly $22 million in reductions and operational changes. It included closing St. Johns Technical High School, stripping $30,000 in discretionary money from every school, dropping electives with fewer than 35 students enrolled and offering early retirement incentives. Principals were left to decide how to absorb the discretionary cut at their own campuses.

One high school in three years

The bigger long-term change is what stops getting built. St. Johns County has spent two decades opening schools to keep up with rooftops. Asplen said that over the next three years the district will build only one new high school. A planned K-8 and a couple of elementary schools that had been on the docket are shelved for now.

That pullback starts after this week. Two new K-8 academies open their doors Monday: Magnolia Oaks Academy in the SilverLeaf area, which the district expects to welcome about 1,300 students, and Sabal Crest Academy in Nocatee, at 1515 Conservation Trail, which opens serving kindergarten through seventh grade and adds eighth grade in 2027-28. Both were funded and under construction well before the shortfall.

What happens Tuesday

The School Board meets Tuesday, Aug. 11 at 4:30 p.m. in the auditorium at 40 Orange Street in St. Augustine, one day into the new year. It is the first chance for parents to tell board members in person what a two-student bump and a vanished portable actually looks like at their child's school. The meeting is also carried on Webex, with a call-in option, and anyone having trouble connecting to comment can reach the district's main line at 904-547-7500. Details are posted on the district's meeting notice.

Enrollment counts taken this fall will tell the district whether the math holds. If students show up in smaller numbers again, the contingency list drafted in February is still sitting there, and it includes six-period days at secondary schools, districtwide rezoning and further school closures.

Keep up with everything happening across the county at St. Johns Community Website, and follow us on Facebook for updates through the first week of school. Parents comparing notes on class sizes and campus changes can join the conversation in our Community Forum. For more coverage like this, read our latest education stories and government and politics stories.