OCPS welcomes students back to school

It’s back to school Thursday, Aug. 10, for about 212,000 Orange County Public Schools students at 210 schools. OCPS has 131 elementary schools, 10 K-8 schools, 40 middle schools, 22 high schools, and seven exceptional and alternative schools.

There are no new schools for the 2023-24 school year. Water Spring Middle, which was based at Horizon High School for two years, is celebrating the opening of its own campus.

OCPS offers 47 magnet programs in 25 high schools, 12 middle schools and 10 elementary schools.

Last school year, more than 203,137 digital devices were distributed. For this school year, every student will have a device.

Transportation is key to education in Orange County, and about 56,000 56,000 students are transported to and from school every day using more than 500 buses. The bus fleet travels close to 13 million miles each year.

At a recent Orange County School Board meeting, officials approved a tentative Fiscal Year 2023-24 budget of $2,707,394,287 for the General Fund.