Orange County’s sharp drop in public school enrollment this year has kicked off preliminary discussions about whether some elementary campuses, now nearly half empty, might eventually need to be closed or consolidated.

The student count for Orange County Public Schools fell about 7,000 students in August compared to end-of-the-year tally in May.

The drop was largely at elementary schools, an Orlando Sentinel analysis found, and impacted schools in long-established communities, such as Conway, MetroWest and Winter Park, but also those in newer, fast-growing suburbs such as Horizon West in the southwest corner of Orange.

The drop means a nearly $50 million shortfall in per-student state funding, which forced the district to reassign more than 100 teachers . It also left some schools w

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