With a fun propaganda campaign, Indianapolis is seeing school closures due to declining enrollments – they call the closures “Rebuilding Stronger”… which is a funny propaganda message:
Seven schools will close or merge and 39 others will change the grades they serve in an extensive shake-up of Indianapolis Public Schools.
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The reconfiguration is meant to address declining enrollment at many of the district’s K-8 and 7-8 schools. The drop in numbers has left some neighborhood schools with tight budgets, stretched to run an entire building while also serving all grades. That takes money away from programs.
This is due to U.S. population demographics and a dramatic fall in the number of young children, resulting in closures of elementary schools and consolidation of middle schools.
The District, though, does not plan to lay off any excess staff. Which means most costs per student will remain high.
Typical of most Districts dealing with the enrollment decline, they rarely explain to the community that this is due to overall lower fertility rates in the U.S., and a shrinking population. Without that understanding, communities often fight school closures, not understanding why this is happening.
