Fox Hollow Elementary could close for good under a sweeping plan now before the Pasco County School Board, which is also weighing dramatic makeovers for two nearby campuses struggling with shrinking enrollment and years of lagging state grades. The proposal, known as Elevate 34668, targets three elementary schools in west Pasco and is scheduled for a formal board vote on Nov. 3.
Under the plan, Fox Hollow Elementary would close completely and its students would be rezoned to nearby schools, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Schrader Elementary would pivot to a STEAM magnet academy, while Gulf Highlands Elementary would be rebranded as Highlands Exploratory Academy with a focus on career exploration. The station reports the restructuring is designed to address declining enrollment, underperforming state grades and aging facilities all at once.
The name Elevate 34668 refers to a ZIP code in west Pasco County, according to Tampa Bay 28, which reported that the Schrader redesign as a STEAM elementary school would take effect for the 2027-2028 school year. The outlet also described the Gulf Highlands conversion as turning the campus into a career exploration program for students.
Fourteen Years Without an A or B
None of the three campuses has earned an A or B grade from the state in 14 years, per the FOX 13 report. District officials say the schools are also sitting slightly over half capacity, a figure that reflects a broader enrollment slide across the west side of the county.
That capacity problem isn't isolated to these three schools. The same station's report notes that declining enrollment at the affected campuses has left hundreds of open seats, a pattern that mirrors what's happening across west Pasco more broadly.
A Countywide Enrollment Imbalance
Pasco is often described as one of the fastest-growing counties in the region, yet its school district enrollment actually dropped by 1,393 students during the current year, according to the Tampa Bay Beacons. Over that same period, voucher enrollment grew by 1,965 students and charter school enrollment grew by 941, pulling families away from traditional public campuses even as the county's population expands.
The Beacons also reported that Pasco had 495 fewer kindergartners than high school seniors this year, and the district expects that gap to widen to roughly 1,050 fewer kindergartners than seniors next year. Nine elementary schools on the west side are currently operating below 70% capacity, the outlet found, while growth is concentrated on the eastern side of the county. “We have growth in one part of the county and declining enrollment in another part,” the Beacons reported, describing the district's core challenge.
No Job Losses, District Says
District officials say no employees will lose their jobs under the reorganization, with affected staff set to receive priority placement for open positions at nearby schools, according to FOX 13's reporting. If the board approves the plan, new attendance boundaries would take effect in January.
Following a Pattern of Closures
Elevate 34668 would not be Pasco's first school consolidation in recent years. The district closed Hudson Elementary in 2020, Mittye P. Locke Elementary in 2023 and Calusa Elementary in 2025, and has identified Gulfside Elementary in Holiday for closure next year, per the Tampa Bay Beacons, which reported that officials discussed merging Gulfside into Paul R. Smith Middle School.
The Calusa closure offers a glimpse of how these mergers can play out. The school board unanimously voted in September 2024 to move Calusa students to a combined K-8 campus at the Chasco site, according to WUSF, which reported the Chasco campus was chosen in part because it was newer than Calusa Elementary, built in 1979. That reorganization eliminated about 20 non-instructional staff positions, though WUSF reported the affected employees were moved to other schools within the district rather than laid off.
