More districts are considering school closures amid significant enrollment declines. Here’s how leaders are shifting budgetary priorities.
North Texas’ Keller Independent School District enrollment has steadily declined, CBS News . The community is awaiting recommendations from the Long-Range Planning Committee and Citizens Bond Advisory Committee about downsizing and a potential bond package.
The district has not revealed which schools are being considered, but buildings could close in the 2027-28 school year.
A report from the superintendent suggests enrollment has dropped by roughly 1,600 students since last year and is expected to keep fallinga trend the superintendent projects will cost the district tens of millions in state funding, according to CBS News.
Texas districts widely to Texas Education Freedom Accounts, the state’s school voucher program. The $1 billion program awards families taxpayer money topayprivate school tuition. Demand has been overwhelming as hundreds of thousands of families applied within the program’s first weeks.
Even one private school in Atlanta, Georgia, is abruptly closing this week, weeks before the end of the semester, WSB-TV . According to Midtown International School’s board of directors, the school’s enrollment is shrinking while the number of students needing scholarships and financial assistance grows.
Parents claim they’ve already paid for the entire semester’s tuition and some of next year’s.
“I am still in shock. My child is still in shock. We were unprepared for this,” one parent told the news outlet.
Elsewhere, district leaders across North Carolina are debating campus closures and job cuts amid rising costs to build and operate schools, The News & Observer. More families are participating in school choice programs and moving to charter schools.
The Wake County Public School System is reversing a plan to eliminate 130 special education teaching positions, which prompted protests from educators and parents. Still, Superintendent Robert Taylor said the district must find an alternative solution to cut the $10 million those cuts would have saved, the news outlet reports.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is also weighing plans to eliminate 23 central office positions this summer, saving the district $1.5 million to $2 million annually. Additionally, the school board is considering closing two elementary schools in 2027.
Superintendent Rodney Trice argued that change isnecessary to avoid budget constraints.
“There is nothing inherently negative about being a smaller district,” Trice told The News & Observer.“However, we cannot continue to structure and staff ourselves as though we are still serving 12,000 students. Aligning our central staffing model to the size of our student population is a necessary step toward fiscal responsibility.”
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