The school board has suggested closing three Memphis City Schools: Graceland Elementary, Lakeview Elementary, and Georgia Avenue Elementary. These schools have consistently experienced declining enrollment. Graceland's enrollment dropped from 626 in 2002 to 372 this year and in that time Georgia's dropped from 678 to 325. Due to the poor conditions of Graceland Elementary and Georgia Elementary, it would take $8 million to bring Georgia up to code and $9.6 million for Graceland. Closing the schools though would save the city about $26 million in the first year, and $58 million in 10 years! "It's not just about closing a school to save money or to get it off our books," Superintendent Kriner Cash said. "It's really about what is the educational quality to the students in that school." Memphis Education Association President Keith Williams predicts that students affected by the school closings may be better off than they are now. "Students do not go to a school whose adequate yearly progress is lower than the school that is closing. It will be comparable or better,” Williams says.
Inevitably there will be contentious debates about the recommendation to close these schools, but the citizens and some elected officials are asking the wrong questions. The question should not be “how do we save our schools?” It should be “how do we provide an environment that helps educate our students?” What’s as disturbing as the costs for operating public schools at half capacity, mainly in neighborhoods of entrenched poverty, is that most of these are also the schools in the worst physical condition. That appalls Superintendent Cash. He said as directly as possible: The kids who are most at-risk and need our best efforts are the ones in the worst schools.
When we send students year after year to schools that cannot even meet building codes, we are sending them a message: Your city does not value you and your future. Moving these students to an environment more conducive to learning will show them the City is paying attention and we care about their future.
An underlying issue that is even more difficult to address than closing schools is the fact that too many City of Memphis facilities are in the wrong places. They weren’t once, but they are now. Densities in a number of neighborhoods have fallen by half, but public facilities are located as if we are still living in the Memphis of 40 years ago. Last October, Superintendent Cash re
cognized that there were 21 elementary schools with less than 75% capacity, and six of them were less than 50%. There were about 11 middle schools with capacities of less than 75% and four with less than 40%. Finally, there were about five high schools with less than 75% capacity, with two less than 50%. These schools are serving neighborhoods that are no longer densely populated by school-aged children and their families, and this inefficiency is costing the city big time. Public services are less expensive when they are serving high-density areas, and capital costs are almost 50 percent cheaper than low-density sprawl.
Because of the declining densities of many neighborhoods, city taxpayers are paying for once busy facilities that are now underused and mislocated. That’s why the option is not simply closing old facilities, but relocating them to where they are needed in light of population shifts. In the case of the three city schools suggested for closure, "They are not communities where you have young families so, the school population in those areas is down significantly," said Williams.
I suggest operating government more like a business. For business, there is a demand threshold that must be met to keep the enterprise afloat. There are a minimum number of customers that are needed to cover costs and generate a profit. If this threshold isn’t reached, businesses fail or are never opened.
Now, apply this to city services. When places have levels that are below threshold, services are not terminated. They are subsidized, because all city services are delivered to everyone. As a result, city government can’t keep up, so we have roads that are patched but not resurfaced, crumbling sidewalks, declining services, half-empty, dilapidated schools, and unfortunately the list goes on…
Back in October of 2010, Superintendent Cash’s announcement that 50 Memphis City Schools should be closed was right on target. I think closing three schools is a good start…
References:
Tealy Devereaux: Unified Board Closer to Closing 3 Schools. October 27, 2011.
Sherri Drake Silence: 3 Memphis City Schools Considered for Closure. September 19, 2011
Smart City Memphis: School Closing Prospects Hint at Bigger Problem. October 26, 2010.
Inevitably there will be contentious debates about the recommendation to close these schools, but the citizens and some elected officials are asking the wrong questions. The question should not be “how do we save our schools?” It should be “how do we provide an environment that helps educate our students?” What’s as disturbing as the costs for operating public schools at half capacity, mainly in neighborhoods of entrenched poverty, is that most of these are also the schools in the worst physical condition. That appalls Superintendent Cash. He said as directly as possible: The kids who are most at-risk and need our best efforts are the ones in the worst schools.
When we send students year after year to schools that cannot even meet building codes, we are sending them a message: Your city does not value you and your future. Moving these students to an environment more conducive to learning will show them the City is paying attention and we care about their future.
An underlying issue that is even more difficult to address than closing schools is the fact that too many City of Memphis facilities are in the wrong places. They weren’t once, but they are now. Densities in a number of neighborhoods have fallen by half, but public facilities are located as if we are still living in the Memphis of 40 years ago. Last October, Superintendent Cash re
cognized that there were 21 elementary schools with less than 75% capacity, and six of them were less than 50%. There were about 11 middle schools with capacities of less than 75% and four with less than 40%. Finally, there were about five high schools with less than 75% capacity, with two less than 50%. These schools are serving neighborhoods that are no longer densely populated by school-aged children and their families, and this inefficiency is costing the city big time. Public services are less expensive when they are serving high-density areas, and capital costs are almost 50 percent cheaper than low-density sprawl.Because of the declining densities of many neighborhoods, city taxpayers are paying for once busy facilities that are now underused and mislocated. That’s why the option is not simply closing old facilities, but relocating them to where they are needed in light of population shifts. In the case of the three city schools suggested for closure, "They are not communities where you have young families so, the school population in those areas is down significantly," said Williams.
I suggest operating government more like a business. For business, there is a demand threshold that must be met to keep the enterprise afloat. There are a minimum number of customers that are needed to cover costs and generate a profit. If this threshold isn’t reached, businesses fail or are never opened.
Now, apply this to city services. When places have levels that are below threshold, services are not terminated. They are subsidized, because all city services are delivered to everyone. As a result, city government can’t keep up, so we have roads that are patched but not resurfaced, crumbling sidewalks, declining services, half-empty, dilapidated schools, and unfortunately the list goes on…
Back in October of 2010, Superintendent Cash’s announcement that 50 Memphis City Schools should be closed was right on target. I think closing three schools is a good start…
References:
Tealy Devereaux: Unified Board Closer to Closing 3 Schools. October 27, 2011.
Sherri Drake Silence: 3 Memphis City Schools Considered for Closure. September 19, 2011
Smart City Memphis: School Closing Prospects Hint at Bigger Problem. October 26, 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment