Columbus Dispatch

11/19/2006

Columbus school officials are continuing to look closely at how the district’s buildings are used and whether some should be closed. This is an essential, albeit thankless, task.

It also marks a commendable change from times past, when the Columbus Board of Education refused to face the difficult job of school closings despite overwhelming evidence of the necessity.

Changing times have hit the school district hard in recent years. School closings were warranted in the 1990s by the steady enrollment drops of the previous decade and a half, but board members repeatedly resisted or, after pledging to cut costs through closings, backpedaled.

The steep decline in enrollment of the past three years, precipitated by the advent of charter schools and private school vouchers, has been harder to ignore.

The numbers of families choosing charter schools and vouchers have grown each year, leaving more and more empty classrooms. That pressure was exacerbated by budget deficits, brought on by faulty planning, economic jolts, including high energy prices, and the loss of the per-pupil state aid that left with the departed students.

Last year, the school board finally faced facts and closed 12 school buildings.

But the student exodus has continued to increase.

District officials tried to be more realistic with enrollment projections than they had been, estimating that the numbers would drop by 2,500 for the current school year. The actual loss, more than 4,000, was a shock.

The district is doing the right thing in working to retain families by providing programs and policies that parents have said they want. But nothing is likely to reverse the drain of the past few years.

Some schools have fewer than 200 students, and several house less than or barely three-quarters of their capacity. The school board would be irresponsible not to consider consolidating and closing these.

A Facilities Master Plan Revision Committee, formed to help decide which buildings should be renovated or rebuilt under the state-assisted program, is well-suited to add the possibility of closings to its responsibilities.

Closing schools is emotional and difficult, but operating excess space hinders the district in providing the best education for every student.