Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) is the publicschool district for Orange County, Florida. It is based in the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center in downtownOrlando.[2] OCPS is the eighth-largest school district in the United States and the fourth-largest in Florida.[3] The district serves about 209,000 students at 213 schools and is one of the largest employers in Central Florida with more than 25,000 team members.[3] For 2024, the Florida Department of Education awarded OCPS with a district grade of A, previously earned in 2019 and in 2010.[4]
The superintendent of Orange County Public Schools is Maria Vazquez. The position of superintendent is appointed by the school board appoints the superintendent position. The district is overseen by the Orange County School Board, a body of seven elected officers, each board member sitting for a particular geographic district. School board districts are not analogous in any way with city or county commission districts. As of 2024, the current school board members, in order of district number, are Angie Gallo, Maria Salamanca, Alicia Farrant, Anne Douglas, Vicki-Elaine Felder, Stephanie Vanos, and Melissa Byrd.[5]
Board members are elected every four years with 8-year term limits[6] as of July 1, 2023, with Districts 1 through 3 elected during midterm election cycles (next in 2026) and Districts 4 through 7 elected during presidential cycles (next in 2028). All school board elections in Florida are currently non-partisan.[5]
A county-wide public vote in 2009 created the elected position of school board chair. Bill Sublette was subsequently elected to this position in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. Teresa Jacobs was elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022.[7]
Schools
OCPS has used an attendance model of kindergarten through grade 5 for elementary schools, grades 6–8 for middle schools, and grades 9–12 for high schools since July 1987.[8] Before then, grade 6 was part of elementary school and grade 9 was part of middle school ("junior high" in OCPS prior to July 1987). As now required by Florida law, virtually all elementary schools have pre-kindergarten programs.
OCPS has 213 regular-attendance schools as of the 2024-25 school year: 133 elementary, 10 K–8, 41 middle, 23 high, and six exceptional student education centers. The district also has an adult education system with six dedicated campuses and night classes at most high schools, four dedicated special education schools as well as a hospital/homebound program, and dozens of alternative education centers, including charter schools.[9] Six of the high schools in OCPS have separate ninth-grade centers, three of them off-site of the main campus, built after the shift from K–6/7–9/10–12 to K–5/6–8/9–12.
Some elementary middle and high schools include magnet programs that allow students to specialize in particular subject areas. Students must apply to magnet schools in order to take advantage of this specialization. Some magnet programs offered by OCPS are agriscience, aviation and aerospace, Cambridge AICE, criminal justice, culinary arts, digital media & gaming, education, entertainment production, entrepreneurship, finance, fine arts, first responders, foreign languages / dual languages, gifted academy, International Baccalaureate, international studies, healthcare, hospitality, laser photonics, law, leadership, medicine, nursing, performing arts, STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), veterinary animal science, and visual arts.
As of July 2023, the schools of OCPS are divided into seven groups called school cadres: Elementary, Middle/K-8, High, School Transformation, Exceptional Student Education, Career and Technical Education, and School Choice.[10] In order to provide more direct support to schools from the district, schools are now grouped primarily by grade level instead of by geographic learning communities which were in place for over 20 years.[10]
The district is in an aggressive expansion and school improvement project being fueled by a 0.5% sales tax option passed by the voters of Orange County in 2002.[11] Skyrocketing land and materials costs, however, have outpaced faster-than-expected sales tax revenue increases and slowed progress. Many projects had been pushed back, and some had been cancelled altogether. An extension of the half-penny sales tax was passed in 2014 and again in 2024 for another ten years. Since 2003, OCPS has opened 64 new schools and renovated or replaced 132 schools.[3]
Most paperwork distributed to students and parents by OCPS is available in both English and Spanish. Many such documents are also available in Portuguese, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, Arabic, and Filipino due to the significant populations in Orange County that speak each language.
Elementary schools
Aloma Elementary School
Andover Elementary School
Apopka Elementary School
Atwater Bay Elementary School
Avalon Elementary School
Azalea Park Elementary School
Baldwin Park Elementary School
Bay Lake Elementary School
Bay Meadows Elementary School
Bonneville Elementary School
Brookshire Elementary School
Camelot Elementary School
Castle Creek Elementary School
Castleview Elementary School
Catalina Elementary School
Cheney Elementary School
Chickasaw Elementary School
Citrus Elementary School
Clay Springs Elementary School
Columbia Elementary School
Conway Elementary School
Cypress Springs Elementary School
Deerwood Elementary School
Dillard Street Elementary School
Dommerich Elementary School
Dover Shores Elementary School
Dr. Phillips Elementary School
Dream Lake Elementary School
Eagle Creek Elementary School
Eagles Nest Elementary School
East Lake Elementary School
Eccleston Elementary School
Endeavor Elementary School
Engelwood Elementary School
Forsyth Woods Elementary School
Frangus Elementary School
Hamlin Elementary School
Hiawassee Elementary School
Hidden Oaks Elementary School
Hillcrest Elementary School
Hungerford Elementary School
Hunters Creek Elementary School
Independence Elementary School
Ivey Lane Elementary School
John Young Elementary School
Keenes Crossing Elementary School
Killarney Elementary School
Lake Gem Elementary School
Lake George Elementary School
Lake Silver Elementary School
Lake Sybelia Elementary School
Lake Weston Elementary School
Lake Whitney Elementary School
Lakemont Elementary School
Lakeville Elementary School
Lancaster Elementary School
Laureate Park Elementary School
Lawton Chiles Elementary School
Little River Elementary School
Lockhart Elementary School
Lovell Elementary School
Maxey Elementary School
McCoy Elementary School
Meadow Woods Elementary School
MetroWest Elementary School
Millennia Elementary School
Millennia Gardens Elementary School
Mollie Ray Elementary School
Moss Park Elementary School
Northlake Park Community Elementary School
Oak Hill Elementary School
Oakshire Elementary School
Ocoee Elementary School
Orange Center Elementary School
Orlo Vista Elementary School
Palm Lake Elementary School
Palmetto Elementary School
Panther Lake Elementary School
Pinar Elementary School
Pine Hills Elementary School
Pineloch Elementary School
Pinewood Elementary School
Prairie Lake Elementary School
Princeton Elementary School
Ridgewood Park Elementary School
Riverdale Elementary School
Riverside Elementary School
Rock Lake Elementary School
Rock Springs Elementary School
Rolling Hills Elementary School
Rosemont Elementary School
Sadler Elementary School
Sally Ride Elementary School
Sand Lake Elementary School
Shenandoah Elementary School
Shingle Creek Elementary School
Southwood Elementary School
Spring Lake Elementary School
Stone Lakes Elementary School
Stonewyck Elementary School
Summerlake Elementary School
Sun Blaze Elementary School
SunRidge Elementary School
Sunrise Elementary School
Sunset Park Elementary School
Sunshine Elementary School
Tangelo Park Elementary School
Thornebrooke Elementary School
Three Points Elementary School
Tildenville Elementary School
Timber Lakes Elementary School
Union Park Elementary School
Ventura Elementary School
Village Park Elementary School
Vista Lakes Elementary School
Vista Pointe Elementary School
Washington Shores Elementary School
Washington Shores Primary Learning Center
Water Spring Elementary School
Waterbridge Elementary School
Waterford Elementary School
West Creek Elementary School
West Oaks Elementary School
Westbrooke Elementary School
Westpointe Elementary School
Wetherbee Elementary School
Wheatley Elementary School
Whispering Oak Elementary School
Windermere Elementary School
Winegard Elementary School
Wolf Lake Elementary School
Wyndham Lakes Elementary School
Zellwood Elementary School
K-8 Schools
Arbor Ridge K-8 School
Audubon Park K-8 School
Blankner K-8 School
Kelly Park K-8 School
Lake Como K-8 School
OCPS Academic Center for Excellence (ACE)
Orlando Gifted Academy (** grades 2-8 only **)[12]
In 1952, Orlando High was split into what became Edgewater High School and William R. Boone High School. Originally to be named "Orlando North" and "Orlando South", respectively, Orlando South took its modern name after its principal, William R. Boone, died before it opened. Orlando North took the name of the road it was built on, Edgewater Drive. The former Orlando High campus became Howard Middle School. Jones High moved to its present location in 1952, which was reconstructed in 2004.
In 1975, Ocoee High School and Lakeview High School were closed (their old campuses then housed Junior High schools of the same names) and their students went to the new West Orange High School. 30 years later, a new Ocoee High School was built and opened in 2005.
Robert F. Hungerford High School, founded in 1897 as the Robert F. Hungerford Normal and Industrial School in the historically black community of Eatonville, was renamed Wymore Tech and Wymore Career Education Center in the 1960's until it became the Hungerford Preparatory School in the late 1990's and operated as a district-wide magnet school without a specific geographic attendance zone. OCPS closed Hungerford Prep in 2009.
Twelve of the district's high schools were opened after 1990, not including reconstructed campuses for existing schools.
Orange County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 1,429,908, making it the fifth-most populous county in Florida and the 28th-most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Orlando, which, along with it being the county's largest city, is the core of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2.67 million in 2020.
Kendall is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area. At the 2020 census, the area had a population of 80,241.
Pine Hills is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated subdivision in Orange County, Florida, United States, west of Orlando. Per the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,111. It is a part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Windermere is a town in Orange County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,030. It is part of the Orlando Metropolitan Statistical Area.
West Orange High School is a high school located in Winter Garden in southwest Orange County, Florida, United States. West Orange serves Winter Garden, Oakland, Tildenville, and parts of Lake Butler and Ocoee.
Poinciana is a settlement and census-designated place (CDP) in Osceola and Polk counties in the U.S. state of Florida. It is part of the Greater Orlando area. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 69,309.
The Collier County Public Schools is a school district in Collier County, Florida. The district has schools in four cities throughout the county: Everglades City, Immokalee, Marco Island, and Naples. The district employs approximately 3,200 teachers, 49% of whom have advanced degrees. The district includes 58 schools: 29 elementary schools, 10 middle schools, 8 high schools, along with 7 charter schools, two technical schools educating adult or dually-enrolled high school students, and 5 alternative schools. The district has an 'A' overall grade.
Apopka High School is in Apopka in northwest Orange County, Florida, United States. The school has been named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.
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The School District of Osceola County, Florida is a school district serving all of Osceola County, Florida. The district has 84 schools.
The School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC) is the tenth-largest public school district in the United States, and the fifth largest school district in Florida. The district encompasses all of Palm Beach County. For the beginning of the 2018–2019 academic year, enrollment totaled 192,533 students in Pre-K through 12th grades. The district operates a total of 180 schools: 109 elementary, 34 middle, 23 high, 14 alternative, adult and community, intermediate, and Exceptional Student Education (ESE). It has 27,168 employees and 45,000 volunteers.
Ocoee High School is a public secondary school located in Ocoee, Florida, 12.5 miles west of Orlando. Built in 2005, Ocoee High School operates as a part of Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) and serves students from the cities of Ocoee, Apopka, Winter Garden, and Western Pine Hills. Ocoee High School is currently serving 2,479 students.
Volusia County Schools is the public school district for Volusia County, Florida, United States. The district serves the 16 cities of Daytona Beach, DeBary, DeLand, DeLeon Springs, Deltona, Edgewater, Enterprise, Holly Hill, Lake Helen, New Smyrna Beach, Oak Hill, Orange City, Ormond Beach, Osteen, Pierson, and Port Orange. It is the 57th largest school district in the United States and serves approximately 63,000 students. The district is composed of 45 elementary schools, 12 middle schools, and 9 high schools. In addition there are 9 alternative schools, 7 charter schools, 2 combination schools, and 1 district virtual instruction program. The district is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools/AdvancED.
Lake County Schools is a public school district located in Lake County, Florida, U.S.. The district operates 59 schools, including 19 elementary schools, 9 middle schools, and 8 high schools. The district educates over 41,100 students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Robert Hungerford Preparatory High School was a segregated high school for African Americans in Eatonville, Florida.
Maynard Evans High School is a high school located in Orlando, Florida, United States, served by Orange County Public Schools. The school's name is often shortened to "Evans High School" or "E-HIGH", and the mascot for the school are the Trojans.
Seminole County Public Schools (SCPS) is a public school district that covers Seminole County, Florida. As of September 2006, the total district wide enrollment was 66,351 students.
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