Closing remarks

One of the things I learned early on when reporting and writing about education is that nearly everyone is excited about the prospect of building a new school, and almost nobody is happy about having to close a school.

That means there have been a lot of unhappy people since the 2025-26 school year commenced. Here's why:

• The Cleveland (Ohio) school board approved a plan to reduce the number of schools in the district by 29.
• A proposal in Philadelphia calls for closing 20 district schools.
• The Austin (Texas) board has approved a plan to close 10 schools.
• The Corpus Christi (Texas) district is closing seven of its schools later this year.
• KIPP Texas Public Schools, a charter network, is closing seven of its schools in the state--five in Austin and two in San Antonio.
• The Orange County (Florida) board is holding public meetings to discuss the proposed closure of seven schools.
• The Broward County (Florida) board has voted to close six schools.
• The Milwaukee district is considering a plan to close six schools.

In many cases, a drop in enrollment was inevitable because of the nation's declining birth rate. Enrollment drops have been exacerbated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, when many students left traditional public schools for private schools, charter schools or homeschooling.

Covid relief funding that helped many schools survive the pandemic has been depleted, and many districts may find that the money needed to keep all of their schools open isn't forthcoming.

Schools with student numbers below capacity operate less efficiently than a campus with full classrooms; the costs of keeping a building open don't become lower just because there are fewer students. Eventually, those inefficiencies put too much of a burden on a district’s budget, and leaders can no longer avoid the difficult decision to shutter a school.

Even if closing a school is the only solution that makes financial sense, school districts need to communicate clearly with the affected communities about why a school must close and prepare students and families for the inevitable disruption.

Without that communication, districts might find themselves repeating what happened in Chicago, where bitter feelings linger because of the closure of 50 schools in 2013.

“While there was a sound rationale for the closures, they were undertaken without meaningful notice and engagement with the affected communities,” said the Civic Federation, a research organization in Chicago. “As a result, the move was highly controversial, making mergers, consolidations and closures a sensitive and politically fraught issue. 

Enter Educational Interiors Showcase 2026

This spring, American School & University magazine will assemble a panel of education and architectural professionals to judge the 36^th annual Educational Interiors Showcase, the industry’s premier awards program for excellence in education facilities interiors. Selected projects will be published in the August 2026 Educational Interiors Showcase issue.

Visit schooldesigns.com/educational-interiors-showcase to enter or for more information. Entry forms due March 13. Submission Materials are due by April 24.