Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, the Board of County Commissioners and Orange County Government staff will be joined by Orange County Public School Board Chairman Bill Sublette, Orange County Public Schools Superintendent Barbara Jenkins and OCPS Board members to announce and ceremonial signing of the passing of the updated school siting ordinance. The ordinance was passed at the Orange County Board of County Commissioners meeting on April 25th.
The school siting ordinance was originally adopted by Orange County Government in 1996 and these regulations were limited to traditional public schools. The updated ordinance establishes standards for Orange County Public Schools for building new schools and renovating existing sites and includes charter schools. Orange County Government and OCPS have jointly developed a revised version of the ordinance.
Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and County Commissioners joined Orange County Chairman Bill Sublette, OCPS Superintendent Barbara Jenkins and OCPS Board members to announce the passing of the updated school siting ordinance and participated in a ceremonial signing on April 26th.
“The approval of the new school siting ordinance represents our continued, long-standing cooperative relationship with Orange County Public Schools,” Mayor Jacobs said. “We work hard to ensure that our schools have adequate capacity before development occurs. This ordinance is integral to making sure this happens.”
OCPS grew by nearly 6,000 students this year and is the second fastest growing district in Florida. Over the past 13 years, the school district has opened 43 new schools to accommodate growth. Six additional new schools are slated to open next year.
“This new, improved school siting ordinance will help us avoid future conflicts over neighborhood schools for our children and will allow us to better accommodate the growth our County is experiencing,” Orange County School Board Chairman Bill Sublette said. “The new ordinance will strengthen the School Board’s partnership with the County and will improve communications. By allowing us to build the schools best suited to an increasingly urbanized county, we will be able to preserve the integrity of our neighborhoods and protect the safety of our community’s most prized asset, our children.”
OCPS held a work session on the ordinance on February 23, 2017. The final version was passed at the Orange County Board of County Commissioners meeting on April 25, 2017.
