Until we decide to create a new system of learning for our kids, one act that would help clear the K-12 landscape of under-enrolled, and usually under-performing, campuses is the practice of school closure. But, according to a recent report from the Brookings Institution, Americans aren’t disciplined when it comes to closing schools that probably need to go away:
Linda Jacobson, an education reporter for The 74, reported back in May that:
“The headlines are seemingly everywhere:
‘Jackson Public Schools board votes to close 13 school building.’
‘Denver Public Schools to close 7 schools, cut grades at 3 others despite heavy resistance.’
‘The list is out: These are the SFUSD schools facing closure.’”
“Such reports can leave the impression that districts are rapidly closing schools in response to declining enrollment and families leaving for charters, private schools and homeschooling.”
“But the data tells a different story.”
“School closures have actually declined over the past decade, a period of financial instability that only increased in the aftermath of the pandemic, according to research from the Brookings Institution.”
“The analysis, shared exclusively with The 74, shows that in 2014-15, the closure rate – the share of schools nationwide that were open one year and closed the next – was 1.3%. In 2023-24, the rate was just .8%, up from .7% the year before.”
“’I think it’s important for people to realize how rare school closures are, said Sofoklis Goulas, a Brookings fellow and the study’s author.”
“Last fall, his research showed how schools that have lost at least 20% of their enrollment since the pandemic are more likely to be low-performing. The Clark County Public Schools, which includes Las Vegas, had the most schools on the list – 19 – but isn’t currently considering closures. In Philadelphia, with 12 schools in that category, district leaders are just beginning to discuss closures.”
“When it released Goulas’s initial report, leaders of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute argued that low-performing schools should be the first to close. But efforts to do so are often met with pushback from families, teachers and advocacy groups who argue that shutting down schools unfairly harms poor and minority students and contributes to neighborhood blight. Their pleas often push district leaders to retreat. Working in advocates’ favor, experts say, is the fact that many big district leaders are untested and have never had to navigate the emotionally charged waters of closing schools.”
“’Closing a neighborhood school is probably one of the most difficult decisions a district’s board makes,’ said Michael Fine, CEO of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, a California state agency that provides financial oversight to districts. ‘They are going to avoid that decision as long as they can and at all costs.’”
“Such examples aren’t hard to find:
Just weeks after announcing closures, the San Francisco district halted plans to shutter any schools this fall.
In September, outgoing Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez pledged to put off school closures for another two years, even though state law allows the city to take action sooner. The district is in the process of absorbing five charter schools to keep them from closing.
In October, Pittsburgh Public Schools recommended closing 14 schools; several others were set to be relocated and reconfigured. About a month later, Superintendent Wayne Walters hit pause, saying the district needed more ‘thoughtful planning’ and community input.
Last May, the Seattle Public Schools announced it would shutter 20 elementary schools next school year in response to a $100 million-plus budget deficit. They later increased the number to 21. By October, the list had dwindled to four schools. Just before Thanksgiving, Superintendent Brent Jones withdrew the plan entirely.”
“’This decision allows us to clarify the process, deepen our understanding of the potential impacts, and thoughtfully determine our next steps,’ Jones wrote to families. While the plan would have saved the district $5.5 million, he said, ‘These savings should not come at the cost of dividing our community.’”
…
“If enrollment doesn’t pick up, experts say, leaders who delay closures will have to confront the same issues a year later or – perhaps even more likely – pass the problems on to their successors.”
“’If there continues to be fewer and fewer children …then that doesn’t get better,’ said Brian Eschbacher, an enrollment consultant.”
“One Chicago high school, for example, had just 33 students last year. In Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest district, 34 elementary schools have fewer than 200 students and 29 of those are using less than half of the building, according to a recent report. The share of U.S. students being educated outside of traditional schools also continues to increase, according to a forthcoming analysis Goulas conducted with researchers at Yale University.”
“’We don’t see a trajectory of enrollment recovery,’ he said. ‘Things actually got worse in the most recently released data batch.’”
…
Most of these schools discussed in the Brookings Institution report are bad schools, or else there would be a guarantee they would be fully enrolled. So it begs the question – How hard is it to close a bad school?
The problem facing our traditional K-12 system is that, even if they closed these schools, they don’t have enough creative options to offer the families “stuck” in under-enrolled, sucky schools. And traditional districts desperately need to keep kids enrolled, even in bad conditions, so often times they promise neighborhoods new schools connected with bond elections, knowing full well that within that new school will be the reincarnation of the same under-enrolled, sucky school that inhabited that space before.
Meanwhile, mainly black, brown, and poor kids and their families remain stuck in schools that have no business staying open. It’s unfair to the kids and families that need a good learning environment the most.
But who thinks our traditional K-12 system is going to get busy closing these campuses and offering better options to the kids and families that need it most?
Not me.
Til tomorrow. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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