By Ari Odzer|Published April 22, 2026
The public is watching. Justin DeLeon is with the Partnership for Miami, a group of business leaders that advocates for education, especially student outcomes. DeLeon told us the Partnership wants a superintendent who will focus on dealing with underenrolled schools.
“There’s no question that our district is facing declining enrollment; we have over 130,000 empty seats, and that matters because when we have underenrolled schools, that means those schools are getting less resources,” DeLeon said. “So we need a leader who can be really clear-eyed about where we are today as a community, lead us through that change, and reinvest those resources to strengthen schools and better support teachers.”