Manatee School District Looks at Closing, Consolidating Schools

MANATEE – In an attempt to save money, Manatee County schools officials are looking into consolidating or closing schools.

The suggestion came from a budget committee assembled by the school board, as a measure to alleviate more budget cuts in the 2011-12 school year.

As growth in Manatee County – and student enrollment rate – slow down, school district officials say they are considering shuttering schools and merging students to create a kindergarten through eighth-grade institution. Currently, the district has nearly 7,000 empty seats in the 55 schoolhouses across Manatee County.

“We’re looking at all possibilities, including building a K-8 school that would allow us to close a middle or elementary school,” said School Board Chairwoman Jane Pfeilsticker. “If we choose to do any of this, it will take a year to implement.”

There are many reasons for the empty seats, district officials say.

The struggling economy and housing market played a large role. New charter schools, the increasing popularity of home schooling and the Florida virtual school program, that allows students to take online classes outside of a regular school, have lowered the number of students in traditional schools, said Danny Lundeen, the district’s supervisor of student demographics and projections.

There are currently 3,755 empty seats in elementary schools, 1,941 in middle schools, and 1,287 in high schools, Lundeen said.

At the elementary level, Manatee Elementary has 233 excess seats, Palm View Elementary has 306 seats, Blackburn Elementary has 281 seats and Gullet Elementary has 369 seats, according to the district.

At the middle school level, Lincoln Middle has 352 empty student stations, Harllee Middle has 328 seats, Johnson Middle has 570 seats and Buffalo Creek has 180 seats.

At the high school level, Bayshore High has 700 empty seats, Southeast High has 407 seats, Palmetto High has 409 seats and Manatee High has 235 seats. The high schools in eastern Manatee County, Braden River High and Lakewood Ranch High, are over its capacity by 367 and 89 seats respectively.

This phenomenon contrasts sharply with the housing boom years, when the district grew by about 1,250 students each year. In 2002, voters even passed a half-cent sales tax to help build, renovate and upgrade more than a dozen schoolhouses and district facilities to accommodate the rapid growth.

Starting in the 2006-07 school year, student enrollment numbers began to dip. That year, enrollment dropped by about 150 students. The following year, the district grew by 280 students, and in 2008-09, it grew by two students. This past year, Lundeen said student enrollment increased by 300 students. He projected a growth of 400 to 500 students next school year.

“When you have to plan that far ahead for some of those schools, especially for elementary and high schools, you need several years to plan,” Lundeen said. If you are planning for growth, and “all of a sudden growth doesn’t come, the schools sit there and create under capacity.”

But choosing which school to close is not an easy task.

“It’s more than who has room. We have to look at location, the age of the building and whether it needs a retrofit or technology upgrade, and if the building is antiquated, and whether it has core library facilities, and transportation (factors),” Lundeen said.

Each of the school with excess seats also presents a unique case.

Johnson Middle, for example, has fewer students because the school board erased its attendance boundaries nearly two years ago and turned it into a choice school to draw students from all over the county to its International Baccalaureate program. Bayshore and Southeast high schools are located in areas facing sharp decline in growth.

That means solutions for each may be different. The high schools, for example, may see another round of redistricting, Lundeen said. For next year, the transfer of private students to public schools and the class size amendment that requires classes to have a certain number of students, may help fill up the empty seats.

So far, Pfeilsticker said the idea of closing and consolidating schools is only being studied.

“There is no commitment to do any of this,” she said. “The cost savings have to be examined, and the human and convenience factors measured before we make a decision.”

Other board members have reservations about the idea.

“I do understand we have lots of empty seats and the different reasons why,” said School Board Member Harry Kinnan. “I am hesitant to consider that when I know all schools have its own history …It’s an idea we have to listen to and I am not in favor of it at this time.”

Download document: School Board of Manatee - Budget Cut Recommendations 2010-11