Tough Economic Times May Call for Downsizing Facility Resources

School districts are committed to quality educational opportunities for all students. However, when district administrators are confronted with a tight economy, declining enrollment and decreased public funding, it becomes difficult for them to continue to operate all school buildings.
These tough economic times may require districts nationwide to downsize their school facilities. Downsizing and/or consolidating often allows districts to deal with declining enrollment and expected budget shortfalls.
Believe it or not, downsizing and consolidation may actually be a stimulus to school construction. At times, it is more cost-effective to construct a new school to replace two existing schools or to construct an addition to one school when closing another school.
It’s natural for communities to resist consolidation. Nobody wants to see the neighborhood school closed. However, when the community plays a significant role in the downsizing process, they often see the greater good.
In today’s economy, school districts can’t afford to have empty classrooms and low capacity. Addressing declining enrollment and school closure requires a facility-planning process that focuses on concrete data and extensive community participation.
The Facility-Planning Process
Not only does the facility-planning process give school districts a road map for the future, it also increases financial efficiencies in building management. There are six steps to the process:
1. Project Start-Up. First, the district assembles a task force to guide the facility-planning process. Not only does it include district representatives and their appointees, it can also include additional stakeholders such as parents, teachers, students, city planners, clergy and local businesses. To provide direction, the school board meets to officially establish and commit to the facility-planning process.
2. Data Collection and Analysis. Facility-planning experts work with the district to prepare a background report that will later be used in community meetings. The report includes facility data, historical and projected student enrollment, capacity figures, program information and data collected through geographic information systems.
GIS has become one of the best tools in recent years to assist districts in decision-making. It is a collection of computer hardware and software that allows districts to capture, store, update, analyze and display data on an interactive map that is easy to understand.
The map is linked to multiple databases containing information about each student’s grade level, school, home address, socioeconomic status, busing status, etc. GIS enables the district to examine different scenarios for facilities quickly and easily. For example, GIS can show the effects of combining or closing schools.
In addition to developing the background report, facility-planning experts tour each of the schools to assess the condition and educational suitability of each facility.
3. Establish School Closure Criteria. The district establishes school-closure criteria by gathering input from the community. During the first of two community dialogues, the task force presents the background report to community members and solicits input regarding closure criteria through individual and small group questionnaires. Online questionnaires are also available for those who cannot attend the meeting.
4. Develop Options. During work sessions, task force members review all of the material they have gathered to develop facility options. They examine district input, the community’s criteria preferences and GIS to develop overall closure criteria. Then they apply the criteria to the facility inventory to create a decision tree. The decision tree enables them to determine facility options, their impacts and costs.
5. Determine Recommendation. The task force holds a second community meeting to present facility options. Once again, it solicits community input and the results are summarized to ascertain the community’s preference.
6. Project Close-Out. Input from both community dialogues helps the task force prepare a final report that outlines the facility plan. The plan lists each school and the recommended action to be taken, suggested enrollment, cost estimates and a timeline for completion. The final report is presented to the school board for approval.
The six steps mentioned above are an integral part of the facility-planning process, but they can be modified to fit the unique needs of individual school districts.
What remains steadfast is combining community input with hard data. This enables districts to make tough decisions during tough economic times. With a solid facility-planning process, districts can efficiently utilize facilities and reallocate funds to deliver more opportunities to students in the future.

William S. DeJong, Ph.D., REFP, is CEO of DeJONG, an educational facility-planning firm based in Dublin, Ohio.