School Closures in Tucson Unified

by David Safier

(TASL) It’s been weeks. The contentious public meetings continue, and the controversy over closing 4 schools in TUSD rages on. I have no idea how it will turn out, but I do have a question: What did everybody expect?

We give school districts too little money, and TUSD finds itself with a dwindling enrollment, which cuts into its funds still further. The District has to do something to cut costs, so it decides to close 4 schools whose enrollments are down, meaning they cost the district more per student than other schools.

What did everybody expect them to do?

These might be 4 wonderful schools. Their parents seem to think so. (It’s an interesting phenomenon: people tend to think public schools are a failure everywhere but at their local school. Except in the case of truly awful schools, people across the nation are reasonably satisfied with the education offered down the street.)

If the schools slated for closure really are doing a superior job, it would be great if the District could say, “These schools seem to be thriving with smaller populations. Maybe we should try to duplicate their successes by creating smaller schools elsewhere.” But of course, that’s impossible. The District can’t increase the cost of schooling, even if the result would be better educated students.

Arizona can’t afford frills like quality education.

It sounds like the Superintendent and the School Board have done a lousy job selling the closures. People say they should have gone through a more open process. But I’ve seen this kind of thing before. When you “open” processes like this, the communities with the most money and influence manage to keep their schools open, and the kids in the poorer communities are sent packing.

The District has nothing but bad options. When you’re forced to make major budget cuts, someone will suffer.

However . . . I have a possible work-around, a way to save the District money without cutting staff, closing schools or cutting the curriculum.