The Wichita School board voted Monday night to approve a plan to close six schools for the 2024-25 school year.  The closings will affect Clark, Cleaveland, Park, and Payne elementary schools and the Hadley and Jardine middle schools.

The vote was 5-2.  Board member Kathy Bond voted in favor, saying there are too many buildings and not enough students, and the decision cannot be delayed or pushed down the road.  Board president Stan Reeser said it will be important to maintain class sizes and protect wages and the district must create flexibility in its budget over the next two or three years.   Board members Diane Albert, Julie Hedrick and Hazel Stabler also voted for the plan.

Board member Melody McCray Miller voted against the plan, saying the process could have been handled differently, and stakeholders in the district did not have true input that would have allowed for a community consensus on right-sizing the district.   She said informing the public early and often about the budget shortfall would have created a common understanding in the community.   She said all of the options should be fully on the table.   Board member Ngoc Vuong also voted no and said there should have been more community oversight.

The Board heard comments from more than a dozen parents who urged them to vote against the closure plan and keep their schools open.

The plan was driven by a need to deal with an expected shortfall of almost $42 million in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget.  The district has taken administrative steps to cut $9 million and the closing plan would cut another $16 million.    The district’s chief financial officer, Susan Willis, told the board that it is more than a financial challenge.   She said the shortfall is the result of declines in enrollment, the end of federal pandemic funding, under-utilized buildings, deferred maintenance and staffing challenges.

Willis said the goal was to avoid layoffs, fill vacancies, and move students to nearby schools that have capacity without adding significant numbers of staff.   She said each school’s data was considered in making the recommendation for closings.

Willis presented options for the board to consider, including closing one to six schools, the use of some cash reserves, spending cuts that could include layoffs and program cuts, or some combination of these steps.   She said each option would have its own challenges and consequences, and the use of reserves would delay the decision on closings for a year and could reduce reserves to dangerous levels.   Cutting staff by the equivalent of 230 teachers would worsen the staffing challenges faced by the district, affecting every building, every student and every department.    Willis said the issues with enrollment declines and staffing challenges are not expected to change in the next five to ten years.

The closings will affect 2,213 students.  Average class sizes are estimated to be 21 students at elementary schools and 24 at middle schools after the closings.  Around 80 elementary school teachers and 78 middle school teachers will be reassigned to other schools with the plan.

Willis said the next phase of cuts in the district will involve a significant look at administrative buildings.