In multiple board meetings on Tuesday night, three Valley school districts discussed school closures, one of which made a decision to close two campuses.
School districts are grappling with declining student enrollment, which is tied to funding. If there are fewer students, the district is not getting as much money.
Declining enrollment can be attributed to several factors. In most cases, district leaders say the declining birthrate has had a big impact. Some have told ABC15 that there are more high school seniors graduating than the number of kindergartners starting in their district.
Another reason is the lack of affordable housing. Some leaders and experts have told ABC15 that younger families are not buying homes within landlocked cities due to pricing and instead going to the outer cities, like Buckeye and Queen Creek, where there are more affordable homes.
The third factor would be the expansion of school choice. Arizona families can choose to put their students anywhere through open enrollment, and there are more choices like charter schools, private schools and the universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, where parents can apply to get state money and send their students wherever they want or homeschool them.
Over the last several years, several districts and their governing boards have made the decision to close school campuses. This list includes Paradise Valley Unified, Roosevelt Elementary School District, Isaac Elementary School District, Cave Creek Unified and the Phoenix Elementary School District.
This school year, more districts are having that discussion, and according to an expert at the Arizona School Boards Association, more could be coming.
Scottsdale Unified:
In an emotional school board meeting, the district’s governing board voted 3-2 to close both Echo Canyon School and Pima Elementary. Each school has fewer than 300 students each.
Families found out in September, and were upset they didn’t get a notification sooner that their schools were on the potential closure list.
"Closing schools is like putting a band-aid on a more systemic issue,” one community member said to the board in the meeting on Tuesday.
The district says it plans to repurpose those two buildings, though it is currently unclear what it would turn them into. In an interview with the Scottsdale superintendent on Monday, the day before the vote, he told ABC15 it will be up to the school board, but they have a few options they’re looking into that would be for educational purposes.
Now that the board voted to close the two schools, they’ll be closed at the end of this academic year. Students from those schools will need to go to a new campus in the fall. The district has set up a transition support and resources page for families here.
The district will also start looking at Phase 2, which includes reviewing schools that have around 400 students enrolled in elementary schools.
Kyrene Elementary School District:
The Kyrene Elementary School District’s Governing Board is weighing the potential to close up to eight schools. The district has had a long-range planning committee look into all the logistics for several months before making a recommendation in late August.
Originally, the committee recommended closing nine schools. Since then, changes have been made and there are now three options on the table, two of which were discussed in new detail Tuesday night.
The three closure options are as follows:
- Eight schools: 6 elementary, 2 middle schools
- Six schools: 4 elementary, 2 middle schools
- Five schools: 5 elementary, 0 middle
Middle school educators and parents want the conversations of the two grade levels to be separate.
“Middle school students and their needs are so different than elementary school students and their needs,” said Sarah Price, a teacher at Kyrene Akimel a-Al Middle, a school on the potential closure list.
The superintendent told the board Tuesday night that if they choose not to close any middle schools now, they will have to revisit the discussion in the years to come.
The board president said Tuesday night that he is not interested in closing eight schools in the district.
“What we just want, as parents, is for the decision-making process to be fair and equitable,” said Christy Wolford, a parent at Kyrene Akimel a-Al Middle.
If the board decided to go with the first option, the schools would close in a phased approach over the next two school years. There was no immediate information on what the plan would be for the other two proposals. More information on potential boundary changes can be found here.
Kyrene’s governing board is scheduled to make a decision on Tuesday.
Gilbert Public Schools
The Gilbert Public Schools’ governing board met Tuesday night to further discuss the potential of closing one school, Pioneer Elementary.
With the same challenges in declining enrollment, GPS leaders said Pioneer Elementary is one of their lowest-enrolled schools and has continued to decline over the years. In the 2023-2024 school year, the campus had a little more than 350 students. This school year, they have fewer than 270 students.
The board is scheduled to vote on the proposed plan on Tuesday, January 27. More information on boundary changes can be found on their FAQ here.
