In April, Toledo Public Schools’ Board of Education approved a plan to offset a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, in part, by closing seven elementary schools.
It’s not a unique move.
City districts all over Ohio — from Columbus to Cleveland, Hamilton to Canton — are making similar decisions.
“Public schools across the country have been undergoing this enrollment cliff,” said Vladimir Kogan, a political science professor at Ohio State University. “Whereas the population ages, simply the number of school-aged children has gone down. And particularly in states like Ohio, that hasn't been growing as a state, I think that that pain is felt especially acutely.”
The pain doesn’t stop in the state’s urban metros. Rural districts are feeling it as well.
A trip to Claymont Intermediate School
On a school day in April, a couple dozen third and fourth graders at Claymont Intermediate School in eastern Ohio’s Tuscarawas County dressed up in crisp button down shirts and neat black ties.
They were participating in a program aptly called ‘Guys with Ties.’ A group of friends explained how it works over trays of cheeseburgers and chocolate milk.
“You learn lessons about stuff like manners and like setting tables,” one kid said.
“And you learn about how to be a gentleman,” another chimed in.
Superintendent Brian Rentsch said this program is one of many that makes him proud of the Claymont Mustangs.
The district has seen a lot of success lately. Over half of its kindergartners are now on track with their reading skills after teachers started working with a ReadOhio coach. The high school’s mock trial team has qualified for state competition in recent years after a decades-long dry spell.
But despite these wins, Claymont City School District was facing looming financial trouble.
“There's been a lot of school districts in Ohio now that are faced with multimillion-dollar deficits and they have to do reductions just to keep themselves afloat,” Rentsch said. “We're no different in that conversation.”
A declining student population
Claymont City School District’s student population has steadily dropped over the past decade, from over 2,000 in 2015 to around 1,400 now. But Rentsch says the root of this population decline goes back even further.
“Back in the 1960s, we had seven clay sewer pipe companies in Urichsville. Seven. There's one today,” Rentsch said.
The area’s demographic shifts have meant fewer kids around to enroll in school. And of those that are around, Rentsh says more have transitioned to online options or are taking advantage of vouchers to go to private school.
Kogan says he doesn’t see the evidence of voucher use significantly reducing public school attendance in rural areas.
“In urban areas, it is much more a story about an expansion of school choice and more students leaving for charter schools and private schools versus in rural areas [it’s] just a decline in the population,” he said.
But regardless of the reason for enrollment decline, Kogan says the outcome is the same: schools have to balance a budget and closing buildings is often a logical way to do that.
“Underenrolled buildings mean, really, lower quality programming,” he said. “So it's really a choice: do we care more about buildings or do we care more about the education that's being provided to students?”
The decision to close a school
Superintendent Rentsch says that’s the conclusion Claymont came to. The district tried to cut costs in other ways first.
“We reduced staff. We've taken a look at what bus routes we could eliminate and expanded our walk zone,” he said. “But we're also in the business to educate kids, and you can only cut so much when you're trying to educate the kids.”
“We're also in the business to educate kids, and you can only cut so much when you're trying to educate the kids.”Brian Rentsch, Claymont City School District
Raising more money, Rentsch said, didn’t seem like an option. School districts across the state are struggling to pass levies.
A recent reappraisal found property values in the area increased significantly. That means the district will get less state funding in the future. And though schools are also funded by local property taxes, district leaders worry the school won't make up the difference.
“You really have no other options because you either go deeper in debt and keep the building or you try it to help curb some of the costs for the future,” Rentsch said.
So despite concerns from community members over the speed of the decision and what will happen to a soon-to-be-empty historical building, the district will close Claymont Intermediate School at the end of this month.
Next year, 3rd graders will stay at the elementary building, while 4th and 5th graders will move on to the middle school. The district will then explore options like selling the building or putting it up for auction.
