Backlash Mounts As Cupertino School District Ponders Closures

CUPERTINO, CA — The Cupertino Union School District is considering either closing or consolidating three schools in West San Jose, citing lack of funding, declining enrollment and the failure of a recent parcel tax measure.

Staff presented recommendations at a Sept. 23 school board meeting to close William Regnart Elementary School and R.I. Meyerholz Elementary School and to consolidate John Muir Elementary School. The board is expected to take action at a meeting Thursday.

“Closing schools is never an easy decision,” said Superintendent Stacy Yao at a town meeting last week with Meyerholz parents. “We know these are difficult conversations. We know it’s difficult to think about losing your school. But what we are hopeful for is that as we continue and move forward with that merging of that new neighborhood, it’s embracing each other.”

The district has lost nearly 5,000 students since the 2015-16 school year and expected to see enrollment decline for the next eight years, according to a Sept. 23 staff report. The district blamed a shortage of affordable housing in the area, declining birth rates and an aging population resulting in fewer students enrolling in kindergarten, the report said.

Closing an elementary school would result in an overall cost savings of $1.4 million, Yao said at the town hall. The district would save between $400,000 and $500,000 in staff reduction, and leasing out a school site would generate around $900,000.

Measure A — a parcel tax measure that would have provided $14 million a year for eight years beginning in 2023 — failed to reach the two-thirds vote threshold in May. Combined with declining enrollment, the district’s operating budget faces an “additional strain,” according to staff.

The looming decision has garnered pushback from parents against the district and the board, which for months faced a stream of recall efforts over its plan to reopen schools during the pandemic. Last weekend, a group protested outside City Hall, holding signs that read, “School closure drives more kids away” and “CUSD puts students last [and] political agenda first.”

Related: South Bay School District Copes With Recall, Frustrated Parents

Low-income families rely on schools within walking distance for their children, Cupertino Vice Mayor Liang-Fang Chao, who opposed the closures, said in a statement to Patch.

“Many families of English learners are probably not aware that their home school will be gone,” Chao said. “These vulnerable populations will be victimized again by CUSD’s rushed decision to close schools in the middle of the pandemic.”

The district planned to shift students to neighborhood schools “within close geographical proximity” for families affected by the closures, according to the staff report. Combining schools would “create a stable enrollment,” district officials added.

The district does not have the students to fill its 25 schools, Yao said at the town hall, adding that some schools are so small they only have a single classroom.

“We need to act now to ensure that our future is stable,” she said.