SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Another Valley school district is facing a tough decision with declining enrollment and high costs of maintaining schools.
This week, both the Echo Canyon School and Pima Elementary School sent emails to parents, telling them their campuses may have to be repurposed in the 2026-2027 school year.
"As you know, Scottsdale Unified School District continues to face challenges related to declining enrollment and rising costs, which makes it increasingly difficult to sustain all schools in their current form,” the email stated.
A district spokesperson told ABC15 that each school campus has fewer than 300 students. Echo Canyon is a pre-k to 8th grade campus while Pima Elementary is kindergarten through fifth grade.
"Based on these realities, Echo Canyon will likely be repurposed and will not continue as a pre-K-8 school effective the 26-27 school year,” the email stated.
In a school board meeting presentation about enrollment, the district is seeing a decline across the board in its grade levels from elementary, middle and high school. The declining enrollment is a trend seen across the Valley and the nation as the birth rate declines and there’s a lack of affordable housing. In some districts, they cite the expansion of school choice as a factor as well.
What “repurpose” means for these schools could include a myriad of options, a spokesperson said. That may include moving students, closing down, using the buildings for other educational purposes and more. Decisions have not been made yet, as it’s not a school district decision but instead the school board.
Parents at Echo Canyon School told ABC15 they're worried for their kids, as it’s a school of choice where families decide to enroll in that school as opposed to it being a traditional neighborhood school where students are assigned to go.
"I understand this is not an easy thing, so the outcome might not be ideal for us. I think Echo Canyon, I think everyone thinks about it more than just a bottom line,” said Brian Kohl, a parent with two students at the school. “If nothing else, I think us going through this process and having these conversations and sharing our stories maybe will help us to find a way to preserve what it is that is good about Echo Canyon in whatever shape that it is next."
Some parents, like Bryn Aman, are confused as to why they weren’t alerted sooner.
"Nobody’s asked us what we’d like to do. We’re in crisis mode. We get this email and we’re just supposed to sit back and say, well what’s supposed to happen? And twiddle our thumbs? We can’t do that,” Aman said. “Our kids and our education and all of our community is at stake."
As for what’s next, the governing board will have a meeting on October 7 and will discuss this topic. From there, dates for public hearings will be set for families to come give comment.
The district provided ABC15 with a statement:
"Over the past 18 months, Scottsdale Unified School District has been carefully reviewing enrollment trends, facility use, and academic data to ensure that we continue to deliver world-class, future-focused education in a fiscally responsible manner.
This work builds on a Governing Board presentation last spring on the district’s Wildly Important Goal (WIG) addressing enrollment, which included a site-by-site review of enrollment and facility use. Most recently, the Governing Board reviewed updated academic and enrollment data during its August study session. Based on these realities, district leadership has recommended that certain schools be repurposed in the 2026–27 school year. These steps align with our strategic plan and our goal of optimizing resources to best serve students.
These are difficult conversations, and we recognize the deep ties families and staff have to their schools. While the district may bring forward recommendations, it is the Governing Board that makes the final decisions regarding school repurposing.
Our intent in communicating with staff and families now is to ensure transparency and to provide opportunities for input before the Governing Board takes up this matter at its October 7 meeting, when a date for a required public hearing will be set.
We are committed to engaging our community in this process and will continue to provide updates as decisions are made.”
The Scottsdale Unified School District is one of the latest districts to go through this process. The Kyrene Elementary School District is in the process of looking at possibly closing or repurposing up to nine schools, and families have been coming out to board meetings, fighting for schools to stay open.
Several other school districts have closed school campuses in the past two years due to declining enrollment which includes Paradise Valley Unified, the Roosevelt Elementary School District, Isaac Elementary School District, Cave Creek Unified and the Phoenix Elementary School District.
