VALLEJO, Calif. — School closures are accelerating across the United States, and new research suggests more painful choices lie ahead for districts as enrollment keeps falling, according to the Associated Press.
A total of 1,156 schools closed during the last academic year, the highest number since the pandemic, according to an analysis of federal data by Big Local News at Stanford University. Research shows student enrollment has fallen much faster than schools are closing.
The AP said U.S. birth rates have been sliding for decades while state and federal education funding is drying up, pushing cash-strapped districts to close campuses to save money.
In California’s Vallejo City Unified School District, which serves half as many students as it did two decades ago, leaders have closed five campuses since 2025, a quarter of its schools, and put up to a third of staff positions on the chopping block to help close a $36 million deficit.
Research shows closures rarely deliver the savings districts hope for, the AP reported. Busing, severance and security for empty buildings often eat up the money, and closures can set students back academically and make it harder to recruit teachers.
Closures can also trigger a downward spiral as families leave for charter schools, private schools or other districts. “Families are literally packing up their kids and moving away,” said Vallejo parent Kimberly Nunez-Brandao, who moved her son to a charter school.
The AP is covering school closures in partnership with The Hechinger Report and Big Local News.
Sources: KTAR News/Associated Press. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Mertbiol / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
