Seminole County Public Schools bans out-of-state and overnight field trips, or did they?

Hagerty High School’s girls varsity volleyball team has an invitation to play in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, Arizona in October of 2026. 

The team had raised money for the trip – including money to pay for substitute teachers – and all that was left was to get final approval from Seminole County Public Schools. 

But the request was denied from the district, saying that out-of-state travel was being denied because of “budget constraints.” Hagerty High School Athletic Director Jay Getty made a simple plea to the school board Tuesday night. 

“These kids grow so much on the road together,” said Getty, who is retiring this year. “Don’t remove that opportunity.”

Getty was one of more than a dozen parents, teachers, coaches and students who spoke to the board Tuesday night after the district began declining all requests for out-of-state and overnight travel. Many parents were from Oviedo High School and Hagerty High School. None spoke in favor of the change. 

Getty said denying the trip wouldn’t save the district any money. 

“If there is any cost to the district for this trip, it would simply be an insurance piece,” Getty said. “The team covering any field trip has to pay all the bills associated with the trip. And that includes air fare, registration, food, and substitute teachers.”  

The issue goes beyond athletics. It would impact military Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, yearbook, and the journalism programs. So far, Getty said he’s heard from parents, athletes and coaches from other schools. “It’s not just athletics. It’s everybody,” he said. “It applies to all clubs, all staff, and all athletic programs.”

How Seminole County Public Schools invoked the ire of parents, who say the district is ‘gaslighting the community’ 

On March 23, Seminole County Public Schools Assistant Superintendent of High Schools Mike Rice sent an email to all the high school principals, reading: “Due to budgetary considerations, all out-of-state/overnight trips starting this summer will not be approved,” the email reads. “If there are special considerations that need to be made, please communicate first with me prior to teachers/staff completing an out-of-state/overnight trip packet.”

The email was first posted online by a parent and verified by Oviedo Community News. The issue was discussed by board members Tuesday and after a budget workshop, the district put out a statement characterizing the Seminole County Schools ban on trips as a “rumor.” 

“To be clear: there is no new policy or ‘ban’ on out-of-state travel,” SCPS wrote on Facebook hours before Tuesday’s public board meeting. “Students and staff may still participate in these opportunities; however, each request will receive additional review and consideration as part of our commitment to being good stewards of district resources while still supporting meaningful and enriching experiences.”

Rice did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

SCPS posted online hours before the public meeting, saying that there is no travel ban. The post did not allow for public comments.  

Jennifer Devine has been a student at Winter Springs High School, a theater teacher there and she now has a daughter who is in chorus, band and theater. As a teacher, she said she’s taken kids overseas on trips – and it never cost the district.

Talking to the board Tuesday night, she said the board was “gaslighting” parents.  

“We need to call that what it is: That’s walking it back and hoping that people don’t notice,” Devine said. “You need to do what we teach our students to do and actually own the words you put out there. Because your original message was very clear: Trips would not be approved. Now it’s suddenly a rumor. That’s not transparency. That’s gaslighting the community you serve.”

Speaking with Oviedo Community News, she said this is another example where SCPS has not been transparent in its communications. She said a policy change like that should have come before the board and not done by the superintendent.

Three school board members are up for election this year. 

“The way they did this is very shady,” Devine said. “And it’s a policy change. The way you do field trips is a policy. To change a board policy you have to go through a lot of hoops. Where is the committee review on this? I was told board members didn’t even know about it when that email was sent.” 

Seminole County Schools ban on trips a symptom of larger budget issues, which is leading to staff cuts

The travel ban is a symptom of a larger issue at SCPS: The school system is facing a $26.4 million budget shortfall for the coming year, including a rollover deficit from the current year. 

Seminole County Public Schools is cutting more than 280 staff members and trimming costs. But the district is still coming up short – which, officials said, is why travel budgets and substitute teacher budgets are on the chopping block. 

Seminole County was already projected to lose students this year, but the loss was worse than expected: an additional 600 students more than projected at the start of the year. The school district is paid on a per-student basis. 

And things look worse for the 2026-27 school year. The school is projected to lose another 2,000 students, bringing the total enrollment down from about 60,000 students currently to about 58,000. 

“So this is just the trendline going the wrong way, unfortunately,” SCPS Chief Financial Officer John Pavelchak said to board members at a budget workshop Tuesday.

Seminole County Public Schools does not broadcast its workshop meetings online. Oviedo Community News records those meetings; you can listen to audio of the meeting below. You can also read the presentation to the board here. 

Watch the Seminole County Public Schools budget presentation above. 

SCPS is proposing to cut costs by $23.4 million. The bulk of that cut, or $16.6 million, would come from eliminating 205 instructional and support staff. There’s an additional 76 job cuts planned to district level department staffing. 

“Staffing changes will be managed through attrition or reassignment to minimize disruptions to the extent practicable,” Pavelchak added.

Meanwhile, Orange County Public Schools is planning to cut more than 200 district-level administrators to deal with funding shortages. OCPS is also closing schools. 

“As of right now for ’26-’27 school year, the school board and the superintendent are united in keeping all our schools open,” School Board Member Autumn Garick said. “But there’s a reduction in students. There will be a reduction in classes.”

And while the money coming into SCPS is going down, costs are going up. Health insurance costs, utility costs, property insurance, food, gas and transportation costs are all rising. But even with those measures, SCPS is still projected to bleed $3 million every year without further cuts. Pulling money from budget reserves, which the district has been doing already, is not a long-term solution. 

“It would take potentially no longer than three years for the unassigned fund balance-to-revenue ratio to fall below the minimum threshold in law, which, under certain conditions, would result in the Department of Education taking over the operation of the school system,” Pavelchak said. “Currently, that has happened to two districts. Union and Glades are both in an emergency situation where the Department of Education is going to be supervising their operations.”

Because of the ongoing budget deficit, the school board is looking to cut from the $3.9 million budget for travel – which includes travel for teacher professional development – and the $6 million budget for substitute teachers. That seems to be the genesis for the initial travel bans.

So why is SCPS losing students? Officials pointed to multiple factors, including declining birth rates; other districts said they have lost students because of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids causing students to stop attending. But while Florida’s public school enrollment is projected to decline, the number of students projected to get Florida Empowerment Scholarships – where the amount of money that would have gone to a student is given to the parents and can be used at private schools – is increasing by about 1,500 students to a total of about 12,440 total students getting the voucher. 

That equates to more than $113.7 million dollars in funding in Seminole County alone.

“I encourage you to please use your advocacy not just within the district, but at the state level,” Garick said. “We have to understand that the major concerns that are having us reevaluate every single opportunity in our district are budgetary. … Please take your energy and partner with us.”

Check here to watch the Seminole County Public Schools meeting.  Want to contact your elected leaders and weigh in on this topic? Find their contact information here. Have a news tip or opinion to share with OCN? Do that here.

School board members react to public outcry over travel ban

At the midday budget workshop, SCPS Superintendent Serita Beamon responded to questions from the board about the travel ban.

Beamon said the issue is that school board policy says that clubs can’t raise money for travel until it’s been approved by the board. Beamon asked for, and got, consensus from the board to have leeway on that policy.

She said that means field trips will likely now be approved closer to the actual trips happening. 

 “That flexibility will allow me to reach back out to the schools and have them demonstrate that the funding is there, for not only coverage of the actual trip being planned, but also of the district impact, as far as any substitutes and so forth on the district,” Beamon said at Tuesday’s meeting.  

School Board Member Kristine Kraus, who is up for reelection, immediately jumped to give the superintendent that flexibility at the workshop.

“We will continue to address the trips on an individual basis,” Kraus said. “And I want you to understand: The letter that went to the principals may have been vague in its intent. Out-of-state trips are not banned. They will be reconsidered on an individual basis.”

Board Member Abby Sanchez called it a miscommunication, and apologized. Sanchez and other board members said they need to update the policy on out–of-state and overnight field trips.

She said people don’t remember worksheets from school, they remember experiences.

“Some of the miscommunication that needs to be addressed is about transparency,” Sanchez said. “I feel this is unnecessary stress and anxiety that should not have occurred. I wholeheartedly feel we need to make sure we do a better job and are transparent. … My apologies for it causing any extra stress on your lives.”

Board Chairperson Robin Dehlinger also thanked parents and students for showing up to the meetings and for messaging school board members and the superintendent. 

“We are listening to you. We do hear you. And we want to make decisions that benefit our students,” Dehlinger said. “Every decision has to be made in light of how it serves students. We are here to serve students and everything else is secondary.” 

The only board member who didn’t directly address the travel issue at the full board meeting was Kelley Davis. 

This isn’t the first time Beamon has been under fire from parents. Parents called for her resignation last October after a communications issue concerning a school security threat at Sabal Palm Elementary School where a staff member told police officers he had thoughts of hurting students.

Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek said she’s gotten numerous calls from residents about the school travel issue. Sladek said the issue lies squarely with the SCPS board. 

 “So we can be mad all day long at various people, but at the end of the day, it is the five school board members who chose this person, and it is Serita Beamon who [was] allowing this policy to stand,” Sladek said. “So what can residents do to change it? We put pressure on the five politicians to force Serita to reflect our community values and change the policy, or to get a superintendent who will.”