https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/four-things-to-know-about-seattles-plan-to-explore-closing-schools/
Seattle Public Schools is looking to close some elementary schools to solve its budget woes, but a lot is still unknown about which school communities could be affected, and when.
Last Wednesday, the School Board voted to give Superintendent Brent Jones permission to start drawing up a preliminary list of schools that could be shuttered, plus an analysis of the impacts; that vote didn’t commit the district to closing schools quite yet. Jones has proposed reducing the number of elementary schools from 73 to about 50.
The district has also lost more than 4,000 students since 2019, and it does not expect enrollment to reach pre-pandemic levels in the next decade. While the district has pointed to declining birth rates and the smaller share of Seattle-born children enrolling in its elementary schools, some parents have said they’ve left SPS for private schools or other options.
An expensive teachers union contract, which increased staff support for special education services, also added to the deficit.