>>This week on NewsNight a decline in student enrollment prompts Florida school districts to rejig budgets and reassig staff.

Plus, Orange County Mayo Jerry Demings accuses Florida's CFO of fuzzy math in the lates clash over the states DOGE audit.

NewsNight starts now.

[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Steve Mort, welcome to NewsNight, where we take an in-depth look at the top stories and issues in Central Florida and how they shape our community.

First, tonight, a follow up on a story we reported on recently about declining enrollment in Florida public schools.

Last week, Orange County Public Schools said it would make staffing change just weeks into the school year.

That process is currently taking place.

More than 100 teachers are being reassigned after enrollment numbers which had already been predicted would tumble this school year came in far lower than expected.

District leader say the reshuffle is necessary to balance staffing, bu stressed no layoffs are planned as the county has nearly 16 vacancies amid a hiring freeze.

Here's Orange County School Superintendent Maria Vasquez at the board meeting last week.

>>This year, we've experienced more significant decline in enrollment than anticipated.

We, projected a decreas of approximately 3,000 students.

But our 10th day count shows a drop of more than 6,600, including a decline of about 2,500 students who are immigrants.

This unexpected shift has a direct impact on our school resources.

And so, every year at this time, our schools go through, the recalculation process, which allows us to readjust, enrollment based on projections.

Those schools that have gained more students than projected receive additional dollars in allocations.

And on the flip side, those schools that have come in under enrollment lose dollars and allocations.

>>Well I spoke with Maria Vasquez back before the start of the school year.

She attributed enrollment declines to a greater state emphasis on school choice and vouchers.

>>So I am a very strong, supporter of school choice.

Parents are their child's first teacher.

I personally had three children, all very different, and I believe tha they have the right to be able to evaluate what supports and resources are available for their children to be educated.

What I have a problem with is not properly funding those choice options, and I believe the state could do that if they chose to do so.

What's happened is that they have said that they have, you know, taken some of those dollars and put it back in through the, base student allocation.

But when you take a look at the amount of money, the increase, which is, approximately, I think $45, that doesn't begin to cover the losses that we are experiencin because of the choice program.

>>Maria Vasquez there.

Well, let's bring in our panel now to break it all down.

Joining me in the studio this week, Joe Mario Pedersen you cover health news over at Central Florida Public Media, amongst other things.

Good to see you, Joe Mario.

>>Same here Steve.

>>Thanks so much for coming in.

Really appreciate it.

Randi Hildreth, you cover education, amongst other things, for Fox 35.

Good to see you as well.

Randi.

>>Good to be here.

>>And Curtis McCloud, afternoon anchor at Spectrum News 13.

Good to see you, Curtis.

>>Always a pleasure.

>>Appreciate your being here.

Curtis, let me start with you on this one.

Spectrum New has been covering this as well.

What do we know about this reshuffle at OCPS?

>>You know, all of this, of course, coming as we've see a lot of students leaving public education or public school because of school choice, right.

Vouchers that are being offered by the state for parents to take their kids to, private school or have.

It's a it's a way to give them school choice.

Those vouchers that they could take take advantage of.

I know for a fact with OCPS they've seen they're going to have to shuffl more than 100 teachers around.

Some of those teacher still at this point don't know.

I was just talking to an educator yesterday within Orange County Public Schools.

She still doesn't know whether or not she's going to be shifted or not.

And the same goes fo some of the other staff members.

But we're looking at about 100 teacher that are going to have to shift.

They're about 157 vacancies.

Give or take a few, because of since the the last seven days when they first made this announcement.

Well, one of the things to point out her is that they were only expecting to lose about 3,000 students, but it was more than doubl that, that they lost-- >>6,600.

>>Yeah.

So you know, you've got to shuffle things around so that they can kind of, you know, retool the staff and cover the needs, that have now presented themselves.

And that process going on at the moment.

So of course there's all kinds of uncertainty for those teachers.

>>We heard the superintendent now, just now discussing school choice, as you mentioned, Curtis, and how parents are looking for alternatives to the public schools.

She also mentioned an I thought this was interesting.

Immigrant students, the number of immigrant students, that were no longer attending schools, has OCPS addressed that issue of ICE enforcement and how it might affect their student body?

>>Yeah.

She has, my colleague, the very talented, Danielle Prieur, covered the story, and she found, that Superintendent Maria Vasquez, has said and feels that there is no safer place than the schools for children, trying to reinforce the ide that, you know, your children, they do not suffer any threat if they come in here.

It should be noted that last year, an OCPS school, did have an Ice agent, Ice agent visit campus.

But that Ice agent was, referred to the district's legal services.

DHS earlier this year, had a new policy in which Ice can, visit or not visit.

Sorry, Ice can raid, churches and schools.

Now, Danielle Prieur did reach out to, DHS regarding that policy and how that influences, the 2025, 2026 school year, but they were not available for comment.

>>Yeah, you've covered this issue, too, Randi.

What is the decline in studen enrollment mean for a school's bottom line?

We heard the superintendent there talk about how it has a financial impact on them.

What does it mean?

>>Oh, ultimately, every dollar that the district gets in funding is tied to student.

So when we see less students showing up, that ultimately hurt the bottom line of the district and not getting as much money as we were talking about when they were looking ahead to this school year at the end of last school year, they already knew that they were going to be short or have less, students.

They were forecasting over 3,000 students.

And so they already had a number in their mind, $28 million shortfall.

That' where it's in this school year, when they starte counting the number of students who were walking into the building, they're looking a an additional $25 million loss.

And so that starts adding up.

We're looking at $53 million shortfall.

One important note in all of this is it's not necessarily anecdota numbers that they're looking at, but there is a student count that happens in October.

And so as you're talking about and crunching these numbers-- >>That's coming up soon.

>>That is coming up, that's next month.

So they're looking at the number of students that have not shown up, but they're really looking ahead to October when they're going to do that actual, student count.

And they'll have that hard number.

And that will really determine what the money situation is looking like.

>>So that's at OCPS that we spend a lot of time talking about, because it's the largest district in our region.

But what's the picture in the rest of the region and statewide?

>>Yeah, I reached out to other school districts in Central Florida as I've covered this.

They have also noted that they have seen, student declines in enrollment, not at the scale that OCPS has reported, and that's just in Central Florida.

But when we expand our scope and look at across the state, I was reading an article Tampa Bay Times had a breakdown of other districts across the state.

Hillsborough County 10,000 fewer students.

Broward County 11,000 fewer student students.

Miami-Dade County 13,000-- >>These are huge school districts.

>>These are huge school districts.

And, you know, circling back to what I was talking about when we look at less students, we're looking at less mone coming to the school district.

So they're not now havin to make very difficult decisions about how they transition teachers, how they loo at how their buildings are used.

Because when we have less students, we have buildings that may not be used as efficiently.

So that could mean merging schools or closing schools and so directly impacting students, families, teachers and staff.

>>Well, it's a story we'll keep an eye on for sure as we move forward.

In the meantime, be sure to join us on social media, we're at WUC TV, on Facebook and Instagram.

You'll also find us on X @NewsNightWUCF.

Okay, we heard from the Orange County School superintenden just now on enrollment numbers.

At that school board meeting last week, she also addressed another issue.

>>We remain steadfas in our commitment to the health, safety and academic success of every student.

And as changes to Florida's vaccinations laws unfold, we want to reassure familie that we will continue to follow both the science and the law in guiding our practices.

>>Well, as we briefly mentioned last week, vaccine mandates are set to be a pivotal issue in the upcoming legislative session that follows the Florida Surgeon General's announcement that the state would seek to end all vaccine mandates, including in schools.

Here's Doctor Jennifer Takagishi, Vice President of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

>>There are going to be families that will not send their children to school because they're afraid their children are going to be around othe children who are not vaccinated.

We may have issues with teachers and other administrators who are also afraid to g to school for the same reason.

They're not going to want to be in that environment.

It will increase the number of families who are coming to doctors for diseases that we though were not going to be a problem anymore, and it's scar for providers as well, to think that there are going to be children in our waiting rooms who are not vaccinated, who could also mak other children and other adults who are in the waiting rooms and in our offices vulnerable to diseases that we thought we had really been able to control.

>>All right, well, let's get into this, important issue then.

Joe Mario, this is very much in your wheelhouse as a as a health reporter.

The state's now in the rulemaking process on this remind us what's going to happen now in terms of mandates going forward.

>>Yeah, absolutely.

So the Department of Health issued new rules, on September 3rd.

And those rules are to take effect unless it gets extended 90 days.

From that point, you know, the rules are that they're going to start liftin some of these mandates, right?

On on certain vaccines, very specific ones.

And we're talking about hepatitis B, we're talking about chicken pox, Hib influenza, diseases such a meningitis-- >>Yea, meningitis.

>>So yeah, those will be, lifted and up to parents choice.

>>Do we get a sense of wher teachers and parents and school officials are on, on this issue and the concerns of sort of public health writ large?

>>Yeah.

So when I covered this story when the announcement was made by state health leaders, I went out and got what we call in the business man on the street, where it's just talking to people in the community to get a gauge of how they are feeling.

The majority of the parents who I spoke to, I set up shop at a park, right near the playground.

So it was getting a good variety of parents, and talking to them, the majority of them sai that they were concerned about, the vaccine mandate being lifted and the implications of that what that means for their child.

When we look at a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Washington Post they surveyed parents across the country, and 81% of parents nationally support the requirements for vaccine mandates-- >>81%.

>>81% with some medical and religious exemptions.

And then also with context for that.

Florida did have medical and religious exemptions for parents to opt out.

But the former Florida Florida surgeo general has spoken about this.

He says that if this vaccine mandat or potentially win, this vaccine mandate is rolled back, he believes that this will only provide more incentive for parents not to vaccinate their children.

And we could have pockets of very serious outbreaks.

And you know, potentially compromising very vulnerable students who come to school with illnesses, staff that are immunocompromised, who are teaching students.

And so there is significant concern.

The teachers union here in Florida, released a statement after this announcement was made, sharply opposing this.

So we have seen entities push back against this.

>>How does Florida fare overall, Joe Mario, when it comes to vaccination, particularly children in schools?

>>So, if you're looking for a point of contrast, let's take a look at, you know, the national rate, Florida really falls behind the national rate.

A few examples of that would be looking at, kindergartners, for, certain, vaccines, some standard ones, you know, measles, mumps and rubella.

Where the rate of tha is about 88.7% here in Florida-- >>The MMR vaccine is one that most kids get-- >>Right.

>>Automatically.

>>Right.

It's fairly normal.

Nationally, comparing that 88% to 92% nationally.

Right.

Randi, you brought up religious exemptions earlier.

That's another metric that we can look at.

We've seen religious exemptions increase in the state, to about, I believe, about 6%, throughout the state.

But in some, very specifi counties, it's as high as 15%.

So Florida lags in a lot of ways.

>>Really interesting.

>>The Surgeon General's announcement, of course, as I mentioned, does have its supporters, among them Lake Count Commissioner Anthony Sabatini, who wrote an op-ed for USA Today this week backing an end to vaccine mandates.

>>And letting people choose, I don't think you're going to see much difference.

I think some people are goin to, probably do more research.

I think that's the biggest positive impact now that they have a choice, now that they have the autonomy of choice, you know they get to make that decision.

They're going to go do some more research.

So that's true of any any decision that a person has to make.

Right now they feel like they don't really have a decision.

They're not researching.

They're not learning.

They're not looking into thei own family's health situation.

They're just going along with, boilerplate medical advice.

>>Commissioner Anthony Sabatini, he seems to be suggesting there that this probably won't make a huge amount of difference to the to the uptake of vaccines.

Central Florida Public Media has talked with a supporter of this move by the Surgeon General as well this week.

What are backers saying?

>>Yeah, I believe you're referring to Cheryn Stone and Engage-- >>Your Engage program.

>>Yeah.

She she had a really wonderful conversation, with a mother, who really just wants that individual freedom to decide what's best for her children.

She told the story about, you know, giving, giving a fairly common vaccine to one of her children.

Her child had, a reaction to it, that gave her some concern and probably would guide her decision in, you know, future children on whether or not she wanted to do that.

So, you know, ultimately, her argument came down to, you know, being able to pick and choose which vaccines, that she wants to give her children and having that individual freedom.

>>Well, there's politics here, of course, involved, Curtis.

The legislature's got to weigh in on ending some of these, the vaccine mandates.

How's that discussion likely to shape up on the Republican side, in particular in the legislature when it gathers?

>>You know, based on everything that I've been seeing and some of the conversations I've been having, it will probably be pretty mixed.

Steve, I know you think, okay, this is somethin when it comes to the decisions that may have to be made, when things may have to be put to a vote supermajority in the House and Senate.

So this will be a slam dunk and this would happen.

But I don't know if it'll necessarily go that way because people have, their own belief and they have a constituent base that they have to, of course, listen to as well.

>>A very contentious debate about public health going on not only in our region but throughout the country.

You'll find more on this subject on our website wucf.org/newsnight.

Okay, finally tonight, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings is pushing back after Florida's chief financial officer this week accused the county of overtaxing its residents by nearly $200 million.

Demings says the CFO claims are based on fuzzy math.

CFO Blaise Ingoglia insists the county's budget has ballooned by more than 50% in five years, and calls the spending excessive relative to its increase in residents.

>>Once you account for a population growth, inflation, hiring more police, giving police, firefighters their raises, adding for government efficiency, everything.

When you factor in all of that, Orange County's budget should be almost $200 million less than it is right now.

Every single person in this county, whether you're a property tax owner or not, are being overtaxed to the tune of about $148 per person.

>>Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia.

Meanwhile, Mayor Demings, who it was reported this week, is readying to announce a run for governor soon, disputes the CFO's numbers on population growth and the increase in the county's general fund.

He says taxes remai relatively low given inflation and the strain on services caused by growth and a surge in tourism, and dismisses claims by the CFO that county salaries are too high.

Demings says he thinks the dispute is more about political theater than financial oversight.

>>It has little to do with Orange County and Orange County government, and whether we are working efficiently or not.

They suggested that we could reduce our taxatio and our budget by $200 million on an $8.2 billion budget.

That's a 2.4% decrease.

I can tell you today.

Even with $8.2 billion, it simply is not enough to solve the myriad of issues that we have as a local government.

>>Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings there.

Joe Mario, let me start with you.

You've been covering this story this week.

First off, what is CFO Ingogli now saying in terms of figures?

>>Yeah, it was a very eventful way to kick off the week.

So Ingoglia as you heard there, was talking about, Orange County, and its wasteful spending saying that he and his DOGE team, which has been going throughout the state trying to find wasteful spending in different municipalities, that Orange Count is responsible for $190 million and overtaxing its residents, which is about $148 per person.

Now, as far as, concret examples of how the the county is overspending, or wasteful spending, he didn't provide anything exactly.

He did make some references, to, raises going on with Orange County staff that he and his team saw as superfluous.

Now, he and Demings had some disagreements about exactly what the numbers were on those raises.

Some some big differences there.

Ingoglia also said, though, that while his team found $190 million, in wasteful spending, he felt that the number was closer to $224 million, which was a little confusing because he didn't provide any evidence as to why he felt differentl than than the DOGE team on that.

But, you know, that's that's where he is as far as that spending goes, really targeting Orange County for wasteful spending supposedly.>>It's interesting, isn't it?

Fox 35 has also been, covering the latest in this fight.

There seems to b some significant pushback there from Mayor Demings.

What's his main defense here?

I mean what have we heard from others in Orange County as well?

>>Yeah.

So in the soundbite that we just heard and in speaking with Mayor Demings this week at the board of County Commission, meeting, you could hear the frustration in his voice when he has to get up and push back against the state about DOGE auditors and some of the numbers that have come out.

One of the things that he has pushed back on is that the numbers that have been given by the state really lacked context.

And they potentially are a little bit inflated or the numbers that the state has been givin or has given out have have not accurately shown the accurat situation here in Orange County.

For example, at the news conference with the, CFO, he mentioned that over the last five years, more than 79,000 people hav moved to the Orange County area.

And mayor Jerry Demings pushed back on that and says, actually, if you look at the Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research we're looking at over $125,000.

So when we talk about, you know, this excessive spending, which he would say it hasn't been excessive spending, you have to account for the growth that we have experienced in the county and having to provide for the additional people who are moving here.

He's also brought up tourism.

You know, you have t look at Orange County, he says.

You have to look at Orang County a little bit differently.

We have so many people who have moved here.

And then on a day to day basis, we're looking at an additional 120 or, excuse me, 200,000 people who are here just to enjoy all of the excellent, amazing, wonderful things here.

And we have to make sure that we are providing have the infrastructure t accommodate all of these people, he also this week talked about, homelessness.

And we heard from leaders who broke down how our money has been spent in Orange County to address homelessness and homelessness initiatives is one of the topics that's been under the microscope of state DOGE auditors.

And at the meeting this week, mayor Jerry Demings brought up the fact that we are spending to make sure that we are helping people, but also to be in compliance to what the state has mandated that we do to serve our homeless population.

So we don't face legal ramifications.

And he asked a rhetorical question during the meeting to the woman who was presenting the Homelessness Initiative presentation, have we gotten any money from the state to help, you know, fund these projects?

And her answer was no.

And he turned to, you know, people who were present and other board members, you know, ask questions already, knowing the answer.

So when we talk about our spending, he he believes it's been spent wisely.

>>Yeah.

The homelessness issue has definitely been a bone of contention betwee local governments and the state.

Spectrum News has also been covering this as well.

Blaise Ingoglia is agai card calling on Orange County.

Of course, to cut property taxes.

That seems to be an underlying issue here.

Is there any sign of willingness on the Orange County Commission to to follow that suggestion?

>>You know, I think what it comes dow to Steve, for Orange County is they want to the stat to meet them at the table within discussion, the mayor saying, hey, we haven't I haven't had a chance to get in the room with any of the to even get forth to talk about, okay, what is it that you're after here?

Yes.

They have they're doing these audits and they're making their way through.

But, you know, they're talking abou several different things here.

Blaise Ingoglia his team says one thing.

The mayor, they'll sa come back and come back at that.

But the issue here, as the mayor said, i we want to get in the room, talk about what you're seeing so that we can all be in alignmen here on the same on one accord.

>>Well, I want to talk about some, electoral politics a moment.

The clash between CFO Blais Ingoglia and Mayor Jerry Demings comes against the backdrop of reporting this week that Demings might be clos to announcing a run for governor as a Democrat.

The mayor himself hinte at that in his press conference this week, saying he just might.

That would mean a primary against former Republican Congressma David Jolly and possibly others.

I talked with Peter Schorsch publisher of Florida Politics, who reported the story this week.

>>As a strategist, if I was working for Jerry Demings, I think he wants this battle.

I think he wants to say, hey, we've got a pretty goo county government around here.

Yes.

You know, there are issues like there are in any place, but I've done a pretty good jo running this county government.

I've got experience.

He sets it up as a local contro versus state oversight battle.

DOGE is a cute term, but until Blaise Ingoglia shows us where there's $200 million in his spending, it's all theoretical.

So again, I think Jerry Demings is, dare I say he may be baiting Blaise at this point, because this gets hi as if he is perceived to be the the chief, nemesi of the DeSantis administration.

Nothing would play bette for him in a Democratic primary.

>>Pete Schorsch from Florida Politics.

Joe Mario, how has the Republican Party of Florida responded to this potential of a Demings candidacy?

>>I mean, you know, as as we said before, Demings has not officially come out as a as a candidate.

Right.

And yet, the GOP of Florida have really have treated him like a threat immediately with, with the name calling, calling him out for being wea or out of touch with Floridians, saying that, he's desperate to keep the family name in the headlines, which is, of course, a reference to his wife, Val Demings, and the Senate race against Marco Rubio, which, she lost by 16 points.

But, yeah, with already a lot of hostility.

>>And, of course, if Demings did prevail in a Democratic primary, he's going to have a tough battle, right, to wi statewide in a general election.

>>Yeah.

Florida is not a blue state.

We are not even a purple state.

We are-- >>At this point.

Yeah.

>>We are a a blue state at this point.

And so-- >>We're a red state.

>>Excuse me, a red state at this point as it's your to your point, it woul certainly be an uphill battle.

Trump has endorsed Florida GOP Rep.

Byron Donalds and Donalds already has an eight point lead over the Democratic opponent, David Jolly.

So when you're looking at the math and looking at how things potentially shake out, it will it will be an uphill battle.

>>One of the things I talk with Peter Schorsch about is the possible historic contex of having Jerry Demings facing Byron Donalds, two black candidates running for for, for governor of Florida woul certainly be a historic moment.

To remind you you can find much more NewsNight content on our website wucf.org/newsnight, but that is all the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Joe Mario Pedersen, Randi Hildreth, and Curtis McCloud.

Thank you guys so much for coming in.

Really appreciate your time.

>>Thank you.

>>Thank you.

>>Thank you.

>>We'll see you next Friday night at 8:30 here on WUCF.

In the meantime, for all of us here at NewsNight, take care and have a great week.