Oakland proposes eliminating 13 schools

09-26-2011

By Jill Tucker and Will Kane/San Francisco Chronicle

In a major cost-cutting move, the superintendent of Oakland's public schools proposed Saturday to eliminate 13 schools at the end of this academic year and said more school closures could follow next year and, perhaps, the year after that. Superintendent Tony Smith said his plan to close five elementary schools and eliminate eight others by merging them into existing schools will save the district up to $2 million annually and bring the number of Oakland schools more closely in line with districts of similar size in the state. Oakland has 101 schools for 38,000 students, compared with San Jose Unified, which has 52 schools serving 32,000 students. The closure of Lakeview, Lazear, Marshall, Maxwell Park and Santa Fe elementary schools addresses what has been seen as a largely failed experiment to create small schools, part of a national reform effort to give students in struggling districts like Oakland more individualized attention. Nonprofit funding support for those smaller schools also has dried up. (more...)

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