OCPS enrollment down by 8,000 students. Where did they go?

Orange County Public Schools lost more than 8,000 students between the 2025-26 school year and the current school year, which the District said is driven largely by shifts in the federal government's immigration policies and enforcement.OCPS down 8,000 students. Where did they go?Between the 2025-26 school year and this school year, the Orange County Public School District lost 8,027 students, enrollment data shows. Of the 8,000, 5,306 students were immigrants.The district attributes the drop to the ending of temporary protected status, or TPS, for Haitian and Venezuelan students.Enrollment numbers for these groups are tracked through a federal program, called the Every Student Succeeds Act.Haitian student enrollment remained stable during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, losing only three students. However, after TPS was rescinded ahead of this school year, enrollment for students from Haiti dropped by a third, with 715 students leaving the district.A similar pattern emerged amon