TOPEKA (KSNT) – USD 253 Emporia Public Schools voted to close a local elementary school due to drops in enrollment.
Logan Avenue Elementary School will be shutting down the next academic school year. District officials met and held two different hearings with final action being made on Wednesday.
District officials said Logan Avenue had the lowest enrollment in the district. According to the school district, in the past ten years, enrollment has declined by 23%. The closure of the school in the following school year was predicted to save nearly $1.37 million and $5.9 million in the next three years.
In an effort to save the school, a petition was started earlier this year and grew over 1,000 petitions to stop the closure. One of the leaders of the petition spoke during public comment at the meeting.
“There were people who asked if I was doing anything to solve the millions of dollars problem that is ours,” Olivia Grover said at the meeting. “That’s not my job, that’s your guys’. In the case of Logan Avenue, it should’ve been the job of the district to ensure that the solution offered up to you guys, the board was equitable and made sense.”
The district reported another reason was a $2.7 million gap in Special Education State Funding. Since the state does not completely fund it, the district is required to fund the missing gap. As noted in the required public hearing for the closure on Apr. 15 and Sept. 2, the rationale for the closing the school the district listed was:
- Declining enrollment that necessitate school consolidation to maintain fiscal health
- Significantly low enrollment at Logan Avenue Elementary School, resulting in inefficiencies and deficit spending
- Resulting minimum annual savings of approximately $1.4 millon
- The ability to absorb the relocation of Logan Avenue students into nearby schools
- Consolidating resources allows the district to maintain educational programs across the district
- Support the goal of impacting as few students as possible
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Emporia Public Schools voted 6-1 in favor of closing down the school. The closure will go into effect during the 2027-28 school year.
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