The Franklin-McKinley School District will shutter three elementary schools and lay off staff in an effort to close the district’s $22.9 million budget shortfall and avoid a state takeover.
In a tense Tuesday night meeting that ended shortly before midnight, the district’s governing board voted 3-2 to close Los Arboles Literacy & Technology Academy, McKinley Elementary and Ramblewood Elementary, despite a packed crowd of nearly 100 parents, teachers and students who begged the board to reconsider and held glittery signs reading, “McKinley is my second home,” “don’t close my school down,” and “keep Kennedy open.”
“Our school is really important to all of us. It’s where we learn, make friends and grow into better people,” said Kennedy sixth grader “Dela” De la Cruz. “This school is also like a second home to many of us. It’s where we feel safe and supported by our teachers and friends….Our school is more than just a building. It’s a place where we chase our dreams and make memories and become better versions of ourselves.”
McKinley Elementary School teacher Thanh Ta broke into tears after the vote. A 14-year teacher, Ta joined McKinley Elementary after the Mt. Pleasant Elementary School District closed her previous school in 2022 due to financial struggles. She was heartbroken that she’d have to experience the same process again.
“It hurts,” Ta said. “Knowing it’s another goodbye, another packing up, another ‘do I have a job?’”
Franklin-McKinley — which serves more than 5,700 transitional-kindergarten through eighth-grade students across 16 schools — joins several other Bay Area districts facing multimillion-dollar budget deficits as declining birth rates, dwindling pandemic recovery funds and families fleeing high-cost areas have inflamed declining enrollment’s financial impact on school districts. Oakland Unified, San Francisco Unified and Alum Rock Union have announced plans to close or merge schools in an effort to recoup financial losses, while Dublin Unified and West Contra Costa Unified are considering widespread layoffs.
The district’s decision came after a two-week postponement in a last-ditch effort to find another way to solve the financial crisis stemming from years of declining enrollment and budget challenges. A school consolidation advisory committee previously identified six schools for potential closure and recommended reorganizing the rest of the district’s schools to mostly 6-8 middle schools and K-5 elementary schools.
But the board struggled to reach a decision Tuesday, with board members Rudy Rodriguez and Marc Cooper refusing to agree to any school closures.
“Look at the faces of these children going to McKinley and Ramblewood and tell them we’re going to close their school,” Rodriguez said. “We’re taking their home away and that’s just not the right thing to do. I do not support closing any schools at this time.”
The board narrowly passed a resolution closing the three elementary schools and reconfiguring Lairon College Preparatory Academy (grades 4-8) and George Shirakawa Sr. Elementary School (grades K-8) to serve grades K-6.
The board also voted to cut more than 80 staff positions and more than 70 teacher and management positions Tuesday. Superintendent Juan Cruz acknowledged most of those positions were vacant, soon-to-be vacant due to retirements or funded by one-time pandemic funds that have since expired.
But Cruz also warned that the board’s decision would not be enough to meet its nearly $23 million deficit and additional layoffs would be necessary.
Mike Fine, chief executive officer of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team — a state agency that helps California schools resolve financial and operational issues — issued a bleak warning to board members Tuesday night of the disastrous future they face under state control if they are unable to identify and make nearly $23 million in cuts by early next year – the task they were elected to do, he reminded them.
“If you allow this district to get to a position of not being able to meet its financial obligations…in exchange for a state loan, Superintendent Cruz will be walked out that day. His career will be over…you will be without local control for the better part of 20 years,” Fine said. “Every cut is painful. Closing a school is the most difficult decision you will ever make as a board.”
Community members criticized the board’s decision for being inequitable and significantly impacting lower-income communities, including many parents who don’t have access to reliable transportation. More than 70% of the district’s students are considered socioeconomically disadvantaged and 45% are classified as English language learners, according to state data.
Eva Martinez, a social worker at McKinley Elementary School, said she felt the board didn’t acknowledge the barriers the community has to go through and families weren’t adequately included in the conversation, especially non-English speaking families or families who don’t have access to technology.
“Any school closure would have been really difficult, but closing McKinley really hurts the entire community,” Martinez said through tears. “We’re the school that’s farthest away from all the other schools. We’re the school that’s most impacted — one of the poorest neighborhoods. And we were not acknowledged.”