District leaders at Columbus City Schools announced plans to majorly realign school buildings during a Monday night town hall meeting.
The district announced proposals to close several additional buildings while "refreshing" and revamping others. Eventually, CCS hopes to build two new high schools and a new elementary school.
Superintendent Angela Chapman said public schools, including Columbus City Schools, face rising costs and growing student needs while state and federal funding dwindles. She said, "the math isn't math-ing."
"One of the biggest questions we have to ask is whether we should keep schools open when they're less than half full," Chapman said.
She said about 20% of the classroom seats in the district are unused. That's around 13,000 empty desks in the district's 109 academic buildings.
In some schools, fewer than 30% of the available seats are filled, Chapman said.
Part of the push to consolidate schools comes from a bill moving through the Ohio legislature that would require public schools to get rid of under-enrolled buildings. If Senate Bill 311 passes, the district said the state could force CCS to sell buildings that are less than 60% full for less than the properties are worth. The bill has cleared the state Senate and was introduced in the House.
"We need to look carefully at how we're using our buildings, where our students live, how our schools are staffed, and whether we can provide more opportunities within our neighborhood schools," Chapman said.
In a bid to shore up finances, Columbus City Schools' Board of Education members have already approved closing nine schools in the last two years:
- Bradleigh Elementary School
- Buckeye Middle School
- The McGuffey building, home of Columbus Alternative High School
- Moler Elementary School
- West Broad Elementary School
- Fairwood Alternative Elementary School
- Como Elementary School
- Duxberry Park Arts Impact Elementary School
- The former Everett Middle School, home of Columbus Gifted Academy
A video showed at Monday's meeting explained that the district wants to eventually go from 20 "under-enrolled" high schools to 10 to 12 high schools with "sustainable enrollment."
The district's long-term plan also involves moving magnet programs toward the center of the city to make them more accessible.
District leaders proposed "repurposing" the Franklin and Eastmoor middle school buildings, which currently house the "chronically under-enrolled" Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls and Columbus City Preparatory School for Boys. The district said the two programs serve less than 300 students total.
The district will ask board of education members to approve moving Columbus Gifted Academy to Franklin Middle and the district's adult education program to Eastmoor Middle.
Duxberry Park Arts Program may head to Sullivant Elementary School. The board of education has said they plan to eventually build a new elementary arts program at Fort Hayes. The district framed the Duxberry/Sullivant merger as a stepping stone to get to that goal.
The district recommends closing Siebert Elementary School and moving students to neighborhood Stewart and Southwood elementary schools.
Longer-term proposals for the 2028-2029 school year include moving Columbus Alternative High School, currently housed at the old McGuffey building in Linden, to Columbus Downtown High School.
South High School and Marion-Franklin High School could merge to create a new South Side high school at Marion-Franklin.
Mifflin Middle and Area STEM school 6th to 8th graders may move into Mifflin High School, so that the district could close Mifflin Middle.
The plan ultimately calls for the permanent closure of 10 school buildings and two other buildings. West Broad Elementary, which the district voted to close in 2024, is expected to be rebuilt.
While the consolidation plans would lead to larger schools, the district said that doesn't mean larger class sizes.
Chapman stressed that the proposals are not final decisions.
