Another Bay Area school district will see closures as early as this fall

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Santa Rosa City Schools is hosting town halls throughout the city this week, as the district considers school consolidation and closure options due a $20 million dollar deficit. 

Santa Rosa community members came together for the first town hall Monday night where they gave feedback on the four scenarios the district is considering.  

School closures have been top of mind for many parents, as districts across the Bay Area have faced severe deficits over the past year. Santa Rosa City Schools says declining student enrollment and the loss of COVID-era federal relief funds has left the district in a tough spot.

Community members say there are a few key reasons for the deficit.  

"Lack of kids... my first apartment was $300 here. I was able to raise my kids, be there for them. Parents now are having to work more than one job. That same apartment is $3000 a month now, and it's the same apartment," Madonna  Feather-Cruz, President of Indian Education at SRCS and member of the Consolidation/Closure Advisory Committee told KTVU. 

In 2012, Santa Rosa schools served 15,430 students. Last year, this district's student count had dropped to 12,860. 

The district presented four consolidation scenarios at Monday's town hall. Each of the proposals aims to cut the district's funding needs by $11 million.  

As with school districts in San Jose and San Francisco, Santa Rosa City Schools administrators say if the deficit isn't managed, the district could face a state takeover and lose local control altogether.  

Some parents we spoke to say their biggest concern is high school students being uprooted as college looms ahead:

"High school launches you into life…High school is integral, so keeping high schools open is really important," Heather Chagnon-Gruenbaum said. Chagnon-Gruenbaum's daughter is a sophomore in high school, and she worries about how her life would be upended by a closure. 

"Proposal number 4 is to make it 7-12th grade and that's the only one that keep the high school so that's what we're voting on," David Benjamin Gruenbaum said.  

Educators joined parents and students too, sharing concerns about arts programming suffering due to closures. 

"Our culinary facility, our dance room, our woodshop and drama room. All of these things that exist on middle school campuses do not exist on elementary school campuses. I just would not be able to run my program successfully,"  said Sara Williams, a music teacher Herbert Slater Middle School. 

One teacher we spoke to tells KTVU she is interested in what cutbacks the district's administrative team will make to save funds.

"I'm wondering why we are not cutting money further away from the classroom. We have an admin staff at our district office to teacher ratio that is higher than it should be, and we havven't heard about cuts that would happen at the district office," Genevieve Lilligren, a teacher Herbert Slater Middle School said. 

Families in Santa Rosa can expect a decision on closures from the SRCS School Board by next month. Those closures are expected to go into effect starting this fall.