Seattle Public Schools Double Down on School Closures

Consolidating elementary schools is necessary, say officials, to try to pare down a $100 million dollar shortfall in the budget.

  Seattle Public Schools plan to consolidate elementary schools

Especially since the COVID pandemic, public school enrollments in parts of the Puget Sound corridor are eroding, and the process has not slowed.

Seattle Public Schools will be releasing in October their initial list of which elementary schools will close. 70 schools will consolidate into 50 K-5 Education Centers. The District plans to have ten of them in each of the five regions of the District.

The move, say officials, will trim an estimated $30 million from the deficit. SPS officials plan to take public comment following the October release, the actual consolidation will begin following the end of the 2024-25 school year.

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   According to The Center Square, Seattle had a total of 49,197 students in ''23-24, that number dropped to 48,329 this fall.   Officials say that number is about half the enrollment they had in 1980.

Some of those high numbers decades ago could be attributed to there being a lot fewer schools in surrounding areas in Puget Sound, cities like Puyallup, Snohomish, Auburn, and other communities have seen the construction of at least 5-6 newer high schools in the last 15 years.

However,  Seattle has seen the largest drain of enrollment overall out of the largest districts in the state.