Ask any superintendent to name the most difficult and controversial decisions they鈥檙e faced with, and it鈥檚 almost certain that school closures will rank high on the list.
It鈥檚 also a possibility that is increasingly on districts鈥� radars as enrollment in many places declines and the infusion of federal funds that temporarily bolstered school budgets in recent years has come to an end.
As these challenges converge, many districts are considering whether to cut down their building portfolios to save money. Oftentimes, districts鈥� smaller, under-enrolled schools find themselves in the crosshairs.
But enrollment shouldn鈥檛 be the only factor driving school closure decisions, according to a school finance expert who has studied the topic. Instead, leaders should take into account academic performance, broader community needs, and whether closing buildings will actually save money, especially when districts are contemplating closures specifically in an effort to offset looming budget deficits.
Marguerite Roza, a research professor and director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, advised against a 鈥渇ormula鈥� or 鈥渇ill-in-the-blank mentality鈥� to maintaining school facilities.
Not every school needs to have the same staffing and course offerings, she said, and enrollment alone shouldn鈥檛 be the determining factor in a school closure. Small schools can be financially viable, she said.
鈥淲e could just say, 鈥業s the school successful with kids, and is it financially viable?鈥欌�� Roza said. 鈥淎nd, if not, regardless of the size, let鈥檚 consider closing that one.鈥�
Will school closures actually save money?
Closing schools generally doesn鈥檛 save districts a lot of money, so shuttering campuses isn鈥檛 the best move if the goal is to save a buck.
The Edunomics Lab, which analyzes education finance and models district spending decisions, has found that when a district has under-enrolled schools, , with most of the savings coming from reductions in labor costs.
The biggest chunk of district money, after all, is spent on teachers, and those staff members typically are still needed, just at different locations.
And even when a school building is closed and students and staff move elsewhere, the building itself still costs money. A district has to pay for some maintenance on shuttered buildings so they don鈥檛 become neighborhood eyesores. And the process of closing a building costs money.
It can also be difficult to offload those unused buildings. Shuttered schools are oftentimes undesirable to businesses for some of the same reasons districts decided to close them: They鈥檙e often located in areas that are losing population, experts say. Also, they tend to be in poor condition, and it may be hard to modify them for other uses.
Still, a district with declining enrollment could get to a point where it can鈥檛 sustain all the facilities it has鈥攅specially if it鈥檚 attempting to keep staffing and academic offerings uniform across all its campuses, Roza said.
鈥淚n that situation, as your enrollment drops, you鈥檙e spreading your resources kind of thin across a lot of schools,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ecause you鈥檙e trying to prop up these one-per-school positions, there鈥檚 a tradeoff for the entire district to sustain these smaller schools.鈥�
How will closures affect students鈥� academic performance and well-being?
Schools with higher percentages of students of color, especially Black students, are more likely to close than schools with populations with greater percentages of white students. Students whose schools close are often shuffled around and can struggle to find consistency in their education.
Academic research on school closures has found both short- and long-term consequences on students from shutting down their schools, so it鈥檚 important districts ensure students aren鈥檛 moved from schools with promising academic performance, experts say.
Not only are students of color more likely to see their schools close, but closures are more likely to have a damaging effect on their educational attainment than that of their peers.
In one study of Texas school closures, researcher Jeonghyeok Kim found a statistically significant drop in math and reading scores among students who went through a school closure in the years following the change. They were also absent on 1.8 percent more school days in the three years following the closure than the three years before. In addition, Kim found an increase in disciplinary action, including expulsions, out-of-school suspensions, and in-school suspensions, for bad behavior following school closures.
All of these effects were more pronounced among students of color and economically disadvantaged students. Attendance among Hispanic students whose schools closed took a bigger hit after the shutdown than it did among other student populations. Black students and students from low-income families were disproportionately more likely to face more discipline.
Then, by age 26, the students who experienced school closures were 4.8 percent less likely to have attended college, 4.7 percent less likely to have completed college, and 1.3 percent less likely to be employed than their peers in schools with similar demographics and in similarly sized cities who did not experience a school closure. Annual earnings for those students from ages 25 to 27 were also 3.4 percent lower than their peers鈥�.
When districts do close schools, Roza said, a 鈥渘onnegotiable鈥� is that districts can鈥檛 close a building and send the affected students to a lower-performing school.
Closing a school is a big disruption to families, so it is critical that districts provide parents with some assurance that their children will be better off academically, Roza said.
Districts should also do what they can to smooth out the process, whether that鈥檚 reassigning cohorts of students to the same schools and even reassigning some of their teachers with them.
鈥淭he disruption is substantial enough that a little bit of accommodating those preferences can go a long way,鈥� Roza said.
Should the broader community鈥檚 needs come first?
Schools are often neighborhood and community anchors, providing a crucial gathering place for social and cultural events. They鈥檙e also among the largest employers in an area.
So schools should be careful not to separate already disadvantaged communities鈥攚hether in rural areas or city neighborhoods鈥攆rom a crucial lifeline.
鈥淚f we shut those school buildings down, those rural communities lose that source of social life and economic well-being,鈥� Mara Casey Tieken, an associate professor of education at Bates College who has conducted research on the impacts of school closures, particularly in rural areas, told Education Week last year.
The Philadelphia district is one in the process of identifying schools that could close, hoping to cut down on the number of campuses so it can redeploy its resources to better effect鈥攃losing shrinking schools where it鈥檚 difficult to maintain a full slate of academic offerings and improving offerings at those that stay open.
Superintendent Tony Watlington Jr., said it鈥檚 a tricky balance to strike鈥攈onoring community needs while also being realistic and fiscally responsible鈥攂ut the district intends to do all it can to make the least-harmful decisions, and support the affected communities when the time comes.
鈥淥n the one hand, schools have always been centers of communities in this nation, and Philadelphia is no different. When we think about investing in communities, those central institutions are part of that,鈥� Watlington said. 鈥淓quity suggests to me that some school communities need more investment, regardless of the school size, and regardless of where the population is growing or declining.鈥�
