51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Leaders of 51黑料 Public Schools are looking at a familiar solution to a looming budget crisis 鈥� permanently shutting down schools.

The district is on track to deplete $200 million in reserves within five years under the current pace of deficit spending. Enrollment is projected to continue falling by an additional 30% over the next decade, adding to the district鈥檚 financial woes.

A recent report commissioned by SLPS suggests the district could save $182 million in maintenance costs over five years by closing 37 of its 68 buildings.

鈥淭hese are the savings by not having to spend on building systems that have outlived their lifespan,鈥� Steve Raskin, of architecture firm Cordogan, Clark and Associates, said during a July school board meeting. 鈥淭hose are dollars the district can allocate toward buildings and teachers and students and supporting the academic achievement of all of our young scholars within the city of 51黑料.鈥�

The potential savings are based on the firm鈥檚 estimate that the district will incur $1.8 billion in building upkeep costs over the next two decades, or $90 million a year, if it does not close any schools.

In fact, SLPS does not intend to spend anywhere near that amount, with or without school closures. The district鈥檚 annual budget includes about $16 million for building repairs and maintenance, according to the latest state records.

鈥淭his idea that somehow closing schools is going to save money or add money to the bank account, I have a hard time believing it,鈥� said Dorothy Rohde-Collins, former president of the SLPS board. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e only saving it if you would have spent it.鈥�

Raskin did not respond to questions about the calculations in the report.

The projected savings from school closures also are unlikely to materialize based on historical outcomes across the country.

鈥淎t least in the tranche of closures we saw in the 2010s, there is not a lot of empirical evidence, but the cost savings were anticipated to be much larger than they ended up being,鈥� said Ariel Bierbaum, an associate professor of urban studies and planning at the University of Maryland who studies school closures.

Chicago shuttered 49 schools in 2013, the most closures any U.S. school district has undertaken at one time. The closures came with promises of improved academics and millions in cost savings. More than a decade later, dozens of the closed buildings remain vacant, and property values have fallen along with test scores, according to researchers at the .

There is scant evidence SLPS would fare better. Previous rounds of school closures have not resulted in cost savings for the district.

Vacant buildings

After six schools were shut down in 2021, SLPS鈥� annual operating expenses increased from $172 million to $179 million.

None of the most recently closed schools have been sold, according to city tax records. About 20 vacant SLPS buildings currently are , including eight that have been on the market for more than two decades.

An additional seven schools in north 51黑料 are vacant this fall after suffering at least $14.5 million in damages from the May 16 tornado. Students and staff members were relocated to other buildings without a timeline for returning to their home schools.

Vacant schools frequently are targets for vandalism and theft, further increasing the cost of security and maintenance for the district.

鈥淚 wish I had known more about what happens after school closures and how unlikely it is that they really solve money problems,鈥� said Rohde-Collins, who was president of the SLPS board in 2021. 鈥淚 feel like we as a board and we as a city thought that these school closures were going to solve some of our problems, and I don鈥檛 think they did.鈥�

The main reason closing buildings does not result in significant savings is because the district鈥檚 biggest expense is employee salaries and benefits, which made up 56% of SLPS鈥� budget last year.

Previous school closures in SLPS generally have not been accompanied by layoffs because the goals have included reducing class sizes and providing more nurses, social workers and specialists in the remaining schools.

鈥淭he District reallocated savings realized from closed schools (in 2021) to new support positions and services as promised. The District hired more nurses, counselors, tutors, social workers, custodians and created new academic opportunities through electives and Advanced Placement (AP) courses,鈥� the states.

Staff reductions are now a possibility because attendance is down by 2,000 students compared to last year, mostly attributed to displacement from the tornado, Superintendent Millicent Borishade has said.

Before the tornado, Borishade planned to recommend an unknown number of schools close by fall 2026. A community meeting scheduled for Sept. 15 to discuss school closures has been postponed indefinitely.

Emotional toll

Beyond the dollars and cents, experts say school districts need to examine the emotional costs of shutting down schools, particularly in cities like 51黑料, where the buildings have been neighborhood pillars for many generations.

School closures disproportionately affect Black and low-income neighborhoods that have been disenfranchised by racist housing policies long before the schools started emptying out, Bierbaum said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important to ask who has been harmed by past actions and how do we make sure that the decisions not only avoid compounding that harm for people but also work to repair past harms,鈥� Bierbaum said. 鈥淒istricts are looking right now at their budget books, at the financial crisis, but that鈥檚 not how communities experience their schools. They鈥檙e not just financial assets or real estate 鈥� they鈥檙e living breathing embodiments of generations of connection and relationship and meaning, so people need to grieve that. Our government doesn鈥檛 really operate with that kind of sensitivity.鈥�

The school closure report commissioned by SLPS had a goal of right-sizing the district to come up with the number of schools needed to reach 70% building capacity.

The data fails to account for the way schools utilize their classrooms beyond desks in rows, including art and music rooms, wellness spaces, technology and science labs. There also are alternatives to consider, including renting out parts of school buildings for health clinics and community centers, Bierbaum said.

The emotional loss of schools in a community can be offset by the promise of constructing new, modern buildings. The average SLPS school was built more than 90 years ago and cannot accommodate the latest technology and amenities for students.

鈥淭hese are the communities that need to be first in line for new school buildings,鈥� said Bierbaum, who points to Baltimore as an example of a city-school district partnership that rebuilt or renovated 28 schools after closures a decade ago.

The school closure conversation in SLPS needs to start with goals for improving the quality of education for students, said Rohde-Collins, the former SLPS board president who as a Ph.D. candidate at 51黑料 University.

Building new schools would help restore trust in the district, she said.

鈥淭oo often in 51黑料, we take away from neighborhoods, and we promise that we鈥檒l put something back and almost never do,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e building a school that you can see rising up in your neighborhood and it鈥檚 new and beautiful, that feeling of loss might be lessened because you already know what you鈥檙e getting.鈥�

搁辞丑诲别-颁辞濒濒颈苍蝉鈥� for new schools did not make it through the city鈥檚 selection process. When other districts build new schools, it usually is funded through bond issues approved by voters.

In 2022, city voters approved Proposition S for $160 million in repairs and upgrades for SLPS, but the district has not provided an on project spending in a year.

Asking voters to OK another bond issue would be challenging, but the promise of new schools could make the difference, Rohde-Collins said.

鈥淪LPS has an opportunity to be an example of what school closures could be, in a good responsible way, or it could be an example of how it鈥檚 always been done,鈥� Rohde-Collins said. 鈥淚f we were to be intentional about planning with the city on where to put new schools, we can keep people in their neighborhood and bring people back.鈥�