In the past few years, Ventura Unified School District (VUSD) has worked towards their mission statement of addressing declining enrollment. However, as a result of the financial difficulty that VUSD is currently experiencing, the Board of Education has begun to consider the potential for school closures as early as the 2027-2028 school year. To provide direction into this process, Ventura Unified has created an Advisory Committee that plans to meet on a monthly basis with the goal of recommending what schools, if any, should be given thought for closure.
According to the VUSD website, “VUSD delayed discussions about school closures while monitoring enrollment trends, hoping post-COVID declines might stabilize. However, with new enrollments continuing to drop by approximately 300 students per year, it is time to carefully assess our current and projected student population and determine whether the number of active school sites should be adjusted.”
On Dec. 16, 2025, Brianna Garcia, Vice President of School Services of California, provided a presentation to the VUSD School Board Meeting, giving insight on how to proceed with the event of school closure(s). Garcia demonstrated guidelines to follow when evaluating each school, such as enrollment trends and the condition of the campus…