DELAND, Fla. — Volusia County school leaders are facing a challenge – their operating budget has a deficit of $25 million.

What You Need To Know

  • Board members met on Tuesday morning for a workshop where they listened to a presentation by the district’s Chief Financial Officer Todd Seis outlining some budget concerns

  • The district currently has a $25.8 million deficit in their general operating fund. Leaders said one of the factors contributing to this budget shortage is a reduction in the money allocated to public schools by the Florida legislature

  • A factor driving the deficit is that student enrollment numbers are down in the county, which results in a higher per-student fixed cost, making it more expensive to run some schools

  • To address these issues, school leaders plan to re-evaluate staff ratios and launch an enrollment campaign

Board members met on Tuesday morning for a workshop where they listened to a presentation by the district’s Chief Financial Officer Todd Seis outlining some budget concerns.

“We’re starting our initial conversations about the budget. We do have to look at it. There are going to be hard, difficult decisions that have to be made. But first we have to kind of jot list those ideas and see all the different options that are out there,” District 2 School Board Member Krista Goodrich said.

The district currently has a $25.8 million deficit in their general operating fund. Leaders said one of the factors contributing to this budget shortage is a reduction in the money allocated to public schools by the Florida Legislature.

“We understand that the legislature is not doing their part to fund public schools appropriately. However, as it was pointed out in the discussion today, every year we have an initial discussion about the budget where essentially the sky is falling and there’s no money. But we always end up in the black,” President of the Volusia United Educators Elizabeth Albert said.

Another big factor is that student enrollment numbers are down in the county, which results in a higher per-student fixed cost, making it more expensive to run some schools.

Board members said readjustments need to be made.

“There’s no cause for panic or fear right now. We want to hear from the community, hear from our stakeholders about ways that we can increase our enrollments, ways that we can make our schools more efficient and optimize the size of them,” Goodrich said.

To address these issues, school leaders plan to re-evaluate staff ratios and launch an enrollment campaign.

“We don’t want to be closing schools. We don’t want to have as hard of a conversation as we may have to have. So, we’re first going to look for other solutions. But you know, the hard fact is, if difficult decisions need to be made, that’s what we’re here for,” Goodrich said.

The district encouraged parents and families in the community to advocate for more funding from legislators. Albert said the district will need to invest in public education to be able to compete with other options.

“We need to invest it where the learning occurs, and that’s in our schools and our classrooms. We need to continue to create an environment that is conducive to teaching and learning and working and funnel the money right to where the students are,” Albert said.

Volusia County is the 14th largest school district in the state of Florida. According to data from VCS, enrollment this 2024-2025 academic year is around 57,100 students, a decline of 897 students compared to the previous year.

As for why enrollment is down, at today’s workshop, school board members said more parents are homeschooling their children or opting for private and charter schools.

The April 8, 2025 Volusia County Schools Budget Update presentation can be viewed below: