What You Can Do When The School Board Threatens to Close a Community School

Changing demographics coupled with increasing funding pressures are causing many school boards to look at closing community schools. Sometimes, for example if the school building is in bad condition and alternatives are relatively close by, closing a school is the best decision — but it is never a decision that should be made lightly. Unfortunately, school boards often make school closing decisions on the basis of incomplete or inaccurate information. This document is intended to provide parents and other community members with guidelines for working with their school boards to ensure that school closing decisions are sound. It also provides information about an alternative arrangement that bypasses the constraints and some of the overhead costs of school board governance.

What can school communities do when their board threatens to close their school? There are three good strategies:

1. rational arguments;
2. buying time; and
3. going freelance.

1. Rational Arguments

The first strategy is to try to convince the school board trustees that it is not in their best interests to close the school. The trustees will be most receptive to arguments that address the financial considera-tions, and it will be necessary to spend a great deal of time examining the board’s documentation. The best chance is to show the trustees that they have their facts wrong and that closing the school will cost more, not less.

It is very common for there to be factual or arithmetical mistakes in the board’s financial projec-tions. For example, a common omission is the additional transportation costs that will be incurred if the school is closed. This amount should be deducted from the savings that the board is projecting as a result of closing the school.

As well, there may be ways to reduce the school’s expenses and/or increase the school’s reve-nues.

• The trustees may have overlooked some possible cost-cutting measures such as a half-time principal, organizing students’ instruction more efficiently, using volunteers for certain jobs, or making the decision not to hire expensive itinerant teachers.

• Perhaps the school’s enrolment can be increased by rejigging boundaries or adding a special program such as the International Baccalaureate.

• It may be possible to use surplus space to generate revenue by, for example, renting it out to the municipality for use as a library or daycare centre.

The reason why schools are targeted for closure is usually that they are more expensive to run than other schools. Many small schools, for example, have more teachers than the board formula allows. The first question to address, therefore, is whether the parents are willing to work within the board formula.

Suppose a small school has six teachers and the formula permits only five. Are the parents willing to work with five teachers, perhaps losing a specialist music teacher? Maybe they will be asked to accept more cross-grade groupings and larger class sizes than they are used to. Are there ways to reduce janitor-ial time and other maintenance costs, by, for example, sending a second pair of shoes for children’s inside use? Are the parents prepared to contribute voluntary labour, perhaps as lunchroom supervisors?