It’s due primarily to a decline in enrollment and exploding pensions costs (public sector workers tend to have pension programs while almost no private sector workers have pensions now): Oregon City schools face $7M-$8M budget shortfall; public can weigh in on cuts – oregonlive.com
Nearby Portland PPS schools has lost 5000 students, or the equivalent of ten 500 student schools. Yesterday, they announced they are considering closing up to ten schools. But that would mean laying off about 250 teachers, and additional support staff. Will they do that? Probably not.
This is the real world consequence of the collapsing birth rate, which has been going on for 200 years – and has little to do with contemporary economic and political issues. In another decade or two, we will start to see the formation of new ghost neighborhoods and towns.
