Photo by eshutt

When D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson rolled out a proposal to close 20 schools late last year, she premised her argument on a simple point: closing under-enrolled schools would allow the city to more efficiently use limited resources on giving kids a good education. But a new report out today questions whether any money will really be saved from closing schools to begin with.

A report by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute says that while the city’s school system stands to save roughly $10.4 million within a year by closing 17 of the schools and moving three others, the process itself will cost $10.2 million, just about erasing any gains from the undertaking. (The report only covers the first year, though.) This would mirror what happened in 2008, when the closure of 23 schools was estimated to cost $9.7 million but really ended up costing $17.7 million.

The report also says that the savings from having more appropriately enrolled schools aren’t that significant and that it remains unclear if closing down under-enrolled schools and sending students elsewhere will produce better educational results.

“In sum, it is not clear if and how the school closing plan will contribute to strengthening the school system. The fact that DCPS has not identified the expected savings and has not indicated how programs and resources would be enhanced in the remaining schools contributes to this concern,” says the report, which says that under-utilized schools should be re-purposed and that any decision on school closures should be pushed off until final discussions on school boundaries and spending can be held.

Henderson has not yet said how much money she estimates could be saved if the schools were closed, though she did say at a D.C. Council hearing last year that it would be enough to place a full-time librarian and five new teachers at every school.

A final list is expected to be unveiled this week; Henderson is set to brief D.C. legislators on Thursday afternoon. Late last year she hinted that she might spare some of the schools that originally made the closure list.

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