BOISE, Idaho — Some schools are closing because of low enrollment. It's quite a change after years of districts not being able to keep up with growth and build schools fast enough. Also, other schools are full, with kids on waiting lists. Where are the students going, and what does it mean for the future of all kids' education in this area?
Four schools are now closed in the Nampa School District.
Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield knows it was a decision that District leaders had to make though, because of a plummet in enrollment, "I know that any decision to close a school is taken very seriously."
Nampa lost more than 11% of its student population in the past decade. That's a big change from the 90s and early 2000s. Critchfield said, "There was a period of time where schools could not be built fast enough."
The Idaho Department of Education said while the state's overall population has grown, Idaho lost over 29,000 K-12 students since the 2013-2014 school year.
"So that is having an impact on public schools," said Dan Hollar, the Public Affairs Administrator for the Boise School District. In the past year, Boise saw a drop in their enrollment of a little more than 2%. And while they're not closing any schools, they were very curious as to what was happening.
Research said, it's because of a declining birth rate in Idaho and Ada County; rising home prices and a lack of affordable housing; the gentrification of parts of the district which is displacing people; and the fact that older adults are moving in, who do not have school-age children.
Hollar says more parents are chasing lower home prices by moving well outside of Boise, which is why you see Vallivue's enrollment growing. Enrollment is also growing at charter schools across the state. They've added 13,000 students in the past decade.
"It's not just that traditional high school anymore,” says Hollar. “It's a comprehensive public school system that meets the needs of all students. But understanding that that's an evolving thing, that as our technology changes, and as we see needs change that we need to be responsive to that as well. And we're committed to that."
So, why are kids moving from traditional public schools to charter public schools? Critchfield says, "I don't want to attach everything to COVID. But there are some definite differences, pre and post COVID."
Critchfield said during the pandemic, families enjoyed more choice and flexibility with how and where their kids went to school. They don't want to give that up. So, the Superintendent wants the Department of Education to meet those needs and to be flexible too, up to a point. "We want parents to find the right fit for their child without any type of regulation from the government saying, 'This is where your child has to it has to get their learning.' But at the same time, public schools feel really hamstrung that there are things that they can't do, or they have to do. And there are other environments who have a little more flexibility."
A big part of that flexibility is in regard to attendance, which is tied to funding.
Also, as preferences change, so do the perceptions of charter schools. Critchfield said there's much less of an adversarial relationship. Charters are already factored into funding distribution and a new law will ensure charters are also not pulling facilities funding from traditional schools either. "We really are at a place now where we can say, 'We're not competing charter to traditional, that there are ways to satisfy the needs, at the basic level anyway, of both of those systems.'"
All that sounds good, but people are still going to worry any time schools close, like they did in Nampa. Are we going to see more of that? Critchfield said she can only be sure of one thing, that education in Idaho will continue to change, "We have to be prepared. Change is a part of education. And we're okay with that. We want that to be a part of the conversation."
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