The Amarillo Independent School District (AISD) board held a special meeting Wednesday to discuss the impact of declining enrollment in its schools and what can be done to address these issues that will create budget deficits.
During the meeting, the board discussed the possibility of consolidation of schools that are at less than 50% capacity. Landergin, Pleasant Valley, Park Hills and Sunrise Elementary are four of the schools that are well below capacity and could be looked at for consolidation if the board decides that is the best option.
At the meeting, the board spoke about now having 5,000 fewer students than they had a decade ago and schools with only half of their capacity. According to the board, fixed costs like staff for each school make them much less efficient financially.
Doyle Corder, board president for AISD, spoke about the challenging work of the board to produce solutions.
“We discussed several options to address declining enrollment and being good stewards for those in the district,” Corder said. “We have 5,000 less students; that is as clear as I can get – 5,000 fewer students than we did eight years ago. And so, with that, while we have become leaner in our budget, there are efficiencies not there when you have schools designed for 800 but only 400 or 450 there. There are things we must address in this inefficiency.”