Dive Brief:
- The Cleveland Metropolitan School Board on Dec. 9 approved the district’s recommendation to close or merge 29 of its 88 schools by the 2026-27 school year.
- Student enrollment has dropped by about 50% over the past two decades, from 70,000 in 2004 to 34,000 in 2025, according to the district. In addition, many of its school buildings need repairs.
- The closures and resulting consolidation of Cleveland schools is expected to save the district about $30 million annually. Still, the district said it will have to make additional cuts to its central office and administrative costs to address a looming $150 million deficit.
Dive Insight:
The 29 school closures and related savings will help Cleveland Metropolitan School District avoid the state taking over control of the school system, said district CEO Warren Morgan in a Dec. 9 message to families and staff.
“These changes are about building a stronger, sustainable future for CMSD scholars,” Morgan said.
Morgan said that he understands the transition will be challenging, but said students will ultimately benefit.
Once the changes occur next school year, all students will have equal or expanded access to academic and extracurricular opportunities, he said. An overwhelming 96% of students moving to a new school will attend a school with an equal or higher star rating — as measured by the state — than their previous one. Some 95% will also attend a school with equal or better building conditions.
Cleveland Metropolitan School District is hardly alone in facing budget and enrollment challenges.
Other urban school districts, such as Texas’ Austin Independent School District and Georgia’s Atlanta Public Schools, have also finalized school closure plans in recent weeks.
In November, Austin ISD trustees approved a plan to close 10 schools in a district that has lost over 10,000 students in the past decade.
On Dec. 3, Atlanta Public Schools’ Board of Education approved district recommendations to close or repurpose 16 schools amid ongoing enrollment declines. About 50,000 students are enrolled in 87 schools — despite the schools having a capacity of 70,000 seats, the district reported earlier this year.
“Due to enrollment shifts over the past decade, closure of numerous existing school facilities is needed to balance enrollments, maximize and conserve resources, and improve the quality of educational delivery across the district,” Atlanta Public Schools said in its proposal to the board.
The move will decrease the number of vacant seats by 5,200, which the district said will help it “better align resources and aims to increase school enrollments to ensure that all students have the opportunity to have critical support personnel in their schools such as social workers, counselors, school nurses, and assistant principals, as well as a full range of course offerings.”
By 2040, Atlanta Public Schools said, it expects the school closures to save $300 to $350 million from decreased operational costs and deferred capital costs.
But even as more district school boards take up school closures this year, some board members — like in Pittsburgh Public Schools — are rejecting the plans in the face of community pushback.
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