Quick Take
Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s school closure advisory committee is expected to present recommendations in December, but members say they need more time. The district has yet to clarify when the governing board will vote or how much money school closures could save.
In the midst of a multiyear process to close schools due to its shrinking student population, Pajaro Valley Unified School District is getting closer to making the painful decision of which schools it will close.
Over the past decade, the district has lost 20% of its student population – from 18,300 students to 14,638 – due to lower birth rates, the region’s higher cost of living and immigration policy changes. With fewer students, the district receives less state funding because funding is based primarily on enrollment and attendance. In an effort to better use district resources, the district is working toward closing schools as more of them reach occupancy rates of 30% to 40%.
In the spring, the district formed a task force of community members to study each of PVUSD’s 33 schools’ student capacity compared with its current occupancy rate and the school’s physical condition. The task force, called the Sustainable Schools Advisory, is aiming to propose a plan that would close and consolidate schools while also attempting to provide the best possible programs for students.
The advisory group’s 23 members include teachers, parents, business owners, landowners, administrators and a land use/facilities expert. They’ve held at least 17 meetings since April and have about nine more scheduled through Jan. 20.
Lookout asked the district and members of its school closure committee about their process, as well as the timeline for decision-making, community input and implementing the closures.
When will the Sustainable Schools Advisory committee provide its final recommendation on school closures to the board, or when will the public learn which schools the district will be considering closing?
Carol Turley, president of the seven-member governing board, said the trustees expect the committee to present its recommendations for closures at the board’s Dec. 16 meeting. By then, Turley noted, “there may be some changes in faces” on the board as election results become official. Four of the board’s seven trustee seats are up for election.
Shortly after Turley announced that timeline during the board meeting, Sustainable Schools Advisory committee member (and school board candidate) Mads Realmuto told the board during public comment that the committee would stick to that timeline if the board wished but that the committee needs more time.
“We still lack critical information, including assessments of alternative uses and potential financial returns from individual school properties [if they were to close],” Realmuto said, proposing that the committee be given more time and that it present its recommendations in January or February.
The committee’s recommendations will be made public once the agenda for the meeting at which it presents them is posted on the district’s website. The district typically posts agendas for its Wednesday meetings on the Friday prior, but the posting time varies.
After the recommendations are presented, when will the school board vote on which schools it will close?
District officials did not respond to Lookout’s repeated requests for clarification about when the board would ultimately vote on which schools it would select for closure.
“No recommendations have been finalized or approved, there is no established timeline for when potential changes would take effect, nor is there a set savings figure, in part because there is no recommendation of the amount of schools to consolidate and/or which schools would be included if any,” district spokesperson Alejandro Chávez wrote in a statement to Lookout.
Is the school board considering closing elementary, middle or high schools?
The district hasn’t yet decided which schools, or what types of schools, it will be closing.
“The district wants to reassure our community that we are taking a deliberate, data-driven approach, and the [Sustainable Schools Advisory committee] is looking at data, and listening to community input before making any recommendations,” Chávez told Lookout.
After the committee presents its recommendations, will community members be able to provide their input?
It’s unclear if the community will have time to provide input about the proposed school closures as the district has not been able to confirm to Lookout how much time there will be before the governing board votes to decide which schools will be closed.
When will the district start to close the schools? How long will that take?
District officials have said they plan to begin implementing school closures during the 2027-228 school year, but it’s unclear whether that timeline will be met.
How much money will be saved by closing these schools?
District officials and Sustainable Schools Advisory members told Lookout that it’s not clear how much money the district will be saving.
“In part because there is no recommendation of the amount of schools to consolidate and/or which schools would be included if any,” Chávez told Lookout.
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