Another San Antonio school district is considering closing schools to make better use of funding amid declining enrollment.
A committee for the North East Independent School District has recommended closing three campuses at the end of the current school year: Driscoll Middle School, Wilshire Elementary School, and Clear Spring Elementary School.
“There's no doubt that this change will be hard, but we are looking at campuses that are requiring twice as much per student than other campuses in the district at this time, and that's clearly not efficient,” said Susie Lackorn, NEISD’s executive director of finance and accounting, during a presentation to the school board Monday evening.
Lackorn said Wilshire costs more than $15,000 per student to operate because of low enrollment. The district’s general operating fund gives it $8,360 to spend per student. Driscoll spends almost $11,000 per student, and Clear Spring spends almost $9,400 per student.
“[Wilshire Elementary] is our smallest campus, with 185 students,” Lackorn said. “It has lost 43% of its enrollment over the last 10 years, and it is currently operating at 32% of capacity.”
Lackorn said Driscoll Middle School has lost 41% of its enrollment over the last 10 years, and it is operating at 38% of its capacity. Clear Spring Elementary has only lost 27% of its enrollment and is operating at 55% of its capacity, but Lackorn said it’s in one of the district’s smallest buildings, and the condition of the building isn’t as good.
District officials said closing the schools will make better use of funding amid declining enrollment.
Edgewood, Harlandale, South San, and San Antonio ISD made similar decisions in 2023. Judson ISD trustees have also voted to close a school at the end of the current school year.
“As consolidation happens, it will instantly lower the cost per student to educate at any of our campuses. Because it will become more efficient, because of less staffing that you need to do it,” NEISD Superintendent Sean Maika told the board Monday.
However, Lackorn said NEISD employees don’t need to worry about losing their jobs because of the school closures.
“In no way would this mean someone would lose their job,” Lackorn said. “In reality, [the] majority of the staff is going to move with the students, but some of those positions won't necessarily have to move with the students, but we have enough turnover in all of our positions across the district that everybody will have a place.”
According to district officials, NEISD has lost nearly 12,000 students over the last decade, from an enrollment of nearly 68,000 down to about 56,200, and 14 NEISD schools are currently under 50% capacity.
NEISD will hold several community meetings in January before presenting a final recommendation to the board for a vote in late February. Decisions about what schools will consolidate with the closing schools will also be made at that time.
“This is similar to back in 2019 how we consolidated West Avenue [Elementary] with two of their nearby campuses,” Lackorn said. “The boundaries of those two were just extended to make up for the [closure of] West Avenue, and then that facility was repurposed into the Pre-K academy that you know today.”
The committee that recommended the school closures was formed to look at efficiencies in the district, and each school board member appointed a parent and a community member to the committee. Staff members were also part of the committee. Lockorn facilitated their meetings and presented their recommendations to the board.
NEISD has created a web page with answers to frequently answered questions about the proposed school closures. The web page also has a portal where community members can submit questions.
