The Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University challenges education leaders to consider creative cost-saving measures already proven in rural schools.
With declining U.S. birth rates and shrinking enrollment in districts across the nation, education leaders will increasingly consider closing schools to save money, experts predict.
The $190 billion federal pandemic aid to schools was exhausted this year, setting up a fiscal cliff for districts that spent much of their funds on labor and won’t have enough money in their state and locally funded operating budgets to maintain current staffing levels into the 2025–2026 academic year. If budget gaps still exist after layoffs, school leaders often look to shed other expenses, including underused facilities or under-enrolled schools.
A new report completed by the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University and published on the Thomas B. Fordham Institute website suggests less drastic cost-saving measures as school leaders and their boards of education begin their annual budget process this winter.
“Birth rates just hit their lowest level ever,” the Edunomics Lab reported on Dec. 19. “And with the border already tightening, there will likely be fewer immigrant children to offset these enrollment declines.
“But, small schools don’t have to cost more per pupil. Some even have strong outcomes.”
The report, using California as an example, notes that the per-pupil costs in smaller districts are usually higher than in larger districts ($19,976 compared to $15,359) because every building still requires central staff such as a principal, counselor, librarian, physical education teacher, and reading coach regardless of that school’s teacher-to-student ratio.
The report notes that the most immediate solution for smaller schools is to combine staff. A building near Yosemite with only 55 students has one teacher for grades two through four, and various faculty or staff members fill multiple roles, including school nurse, physical education teacher, and counselor, at a cost of about $13,000 per student.
“And rather than offer traditional athletics,” the report says, “students learn to ski and hike.”
Schools in large urban districts with extensive support staff but a shrinking number of students in the classrooms—referred to by the Edunomics Lab as “zombie schools”—should consider lower staffing levels, where employees wear multiple hats like some of their peers in rural schools, especially given the strong opposition to closures demonstrated by parents in Chicago, Seattle, Denver, Pittsburgh, Oakland, and San Francisco, according to the report.
“The last decade saw a big push for inputs-based models, including every school needs a counselor or every school needs a nurse,” the report reads. “As enrollments continue to fall, these inflexible one-size-fits-all allocations stand in the way of keeping small schools open.”
Districts can also save money by increasing online course offerings to students, consolidating sports teams at multiple schools, making a plan to merge classrooms on a short-term basis when there’s a shortage of substitute teachers, and enlisting the help of community groups and parents to assist with library and athletic functions, the report suggests.
“Done well, smallness can be an asset, even with the more limited services and staff. Whereas a counselor might be critical in a larger school to ensure that a student has someone to talk to, with fewer students in a small school, relationships come easier.
“Teachers may have more bandwidth to assist a struggling student,” the report reads.
“None of this is to say that every school should remain open. Many will inevitably close.
“But for some of those that deliver solid outcomes for their students, perhaps now is the right time to rethink the typical schooling model.”
The Edunomics Lab is not the only institution challenging school leaders to expand their comfort zones while improving instructional standards without spending more money. The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), ahead of the current academic year, released a report on “rightsizing” crowded classrooms with better teachers.
“Shrinking class size is not guaranteed to [improve] student outcomes,” NCTQ President Heather Peske previously told The Epoch Times. “Instead of hiring teachers that are not as effective, figure out how to get the effective teachers to kids.”