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Council presses School District over $300M structural deficit and proposed school closures tied to budget plan
Summary
Councilmembers demanded detailed numbers and more time to review the School Districts facilities plan and how it relates to the proposed revenue measures; School Board officials described a multi-year plan to close a structural gap while Council asked the Board to delay a facilities vote to April 23 or May 28.
City Council pressed School District leaders about a roughly $300 million structural operating deficit and how proposed school closures and mergers fit into the districts plan to balance the budget.
Reginald Streeter, chair of the School Board, and Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington responded to repeated Council requests for data and urged a multi-year approach to reduce the deficit while preserving classroom instruction. "We have a $300 million structural deficit," Watlington said, describing central-office cuts, contract reviews and efforts to right-size school staffing as part of a cost-control strategy.
Councilmembers repeatedly asked how much would be saved by closing or merging schools and whether the administrations revenue proposals (notably the rideshare and hotel taxes) would truly prevent the proposed reductions in school-based supports. Several Councilmembers said the public had not been adequately engaged on closure decisions and demanded school-by-school data; others raised equity concerns about where closures are concentrated geographically.
School District witnesses explained that many positions at issue were funded with one-time COVID relief dollars and that the dollars expired; they said the district had hired interventionists, reading coaches and climate staff with that funding and that preserving progress required recurring funds. On the question of whether positions would entail layoffs, the district maintained that positions would be transferred to other schools rather than eliminated, but Council members said transfers still mean reduced supports at particular schools and asked for granular vacancy projections by Council district.
Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson formally requested that the School Board not vote on the facilities plan at its Thursday meeting and instead move any vote to either April 23 or May 28 so Council could complete deliberations and documentation requests; Board Chair Streeter said he would respond to that request at the board meeting tomorrow.
What happens next: The School District committed to return to Council at a follow-up session to answer outstanding questions about closure savings, staffing details and the timeline for implementation; Council requested more precise numbers on savings and the districts projection of how many students and staff would be affected school by school.
