St. Charles District 303 Explores Closing Schools to Deal With Shrinking Enrollment, Budget Cuts

St. Charles District 303 is exploring the option of closing schools to help save money and deal with shrinking enrollment numbers, according to media reports.

A report given to school board members Monday night showed the number of incoming students at District 303 schools dropped by 300 students in recent years, according to the Daily Herald.

Meanwhile, a report in August is expected to show if the drop in enrollment is a trend expected to continue in the future, the newspaper reports.

If so, the district could save $1 million by closing an elementary school and $2 million to close a middle school, according to the article.

Moving forward, the school board on Monday directed Superintendent Don Schlomann to look at which schools to close or re-purpose to save money, the Daily Herald reports.

Projections at this point show that enrollment could drop to 750 students per class compared to 1,100 students per class just a few years ago, according to the Chicago Tribune.

This comes at a time when it appears the state will have less money for school districts, the newspaper reports.

Schlomann said it should be the administration’s job to provide options on new boundaries to the school board and then the school board’s responsibility to vote among those options, according to the article.

The board has requested that Schlomann complete the task before retiring in the next two years, according to the Daily Herald.

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