FAQs & Contact

Fewer students are enrolling primarily because the local birth rate has gone down, as is the case across the country. Health records show fewer babies are being born in our area than in previous years. Consequently, fewer children are starting kindergarten in our schools. Although lower than five years ago, the birth rate and kindergarten enrollment numbers are staying steady.

The number of students in each grade level is very stable as the students progress from year to year. The fact that we are graduating more students than are joining us for kindergarten is driving the year-after-year enrollment decline, which again points to a lower birth rate and lower kindergarten enrollment as the main reason for student enrollment decline.

Closing a building saves some money on utilities, upkeep, and other building-specific expenses, but it also costs money to move students and staff to other schools. The main advantage is that we can combine our teachers and resources into fewer buildings to give students better support.

Every school is important to our community. However, as enrollment shrinks, so does our ability to staff every school and maintain programs and extracurriculars that matter most to our students and families. Closing some schools allows us to focus our staff and resources in fewer places, which helps maintain good conditions for teaching and learning.

We would prefer smaller classes, but we cannot afford to pay for extra teachers that would be needed to reduce class size. This often drives the need to combine grades in a single classroom.

The money we get from the state depends on our student numbers. As enrollment goes down, our revenue also goes down. 

The costs involved in keeping a school open are too high to be covered by typical fundraising. Closing a school helps us avoid expensive future repairs that would take money away from the classroom.

One-time donations cannot fix the long-term challenges caused by having fewer students.

This process is about using our resources wisely to protect student learning, not just about quick savings.

We are not currently deciding whether to sell buildings. If a building is sold, the money is usually a one-time payment, which would not fix our ongoing yearly budget needs.

Schools are staffed based on ratios and program needs. Schools with lower student enrollment typically need to blend/combine grades to fill a classroom for a teacher. This is not an ideal situation for educators or students, but it is sometimes necessary to balance class size at the school level.

When the 2018 bond passed, the district was growing and needed more space. The bond paid for many needed safety and security updates to our schools, as well as improved learning spaces for science classrooms and Career Technical Education programs. It also eliminated the need for many portable classrooms.

Since then, enrollment has dropped because of the declining birth rate. We are now in a different situation where we have more space than we need. Concentrating our resources in fewer buildings helps us responsibly plan for the future.

Our focus is ensuring we provide great conditions for teaching and learning for the tens of thousands of students we have and will continue to have. Even if we close a few schools, we still have a responsibility to maintain and improve our buildings. Many of our buildings are very old—some up to 100 years old—and need significant repairs to stay safe and modern for our students.