An aging community and enrollment decline pushes MPUSD to close three schools in the next two years.

You've heard of the problem of overcrowded schools. Here's a different problem: Under-crowded schools that were designed for a larger student body than is projected, with too many classrooms for a district to support.

Based on a downward trend in enrollment, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District will close two elementary schools and one middle school in the next two years, per a plan approved by the board of trustees on June 22.

Highland and Foothill elementary schools will remain open for the 2021-22 school year as to allow students to transition from online to in-person instructions. Colton Middle School will remain open through the 2022-23 school year. 

MPUSD currently operates 12 elementary schools, three middle schools, and four high schools (this includes an alternative high school diploma program for students 16 and older). 

According to a January report from Eric Hall & Associates, MPUSD needed to reconfigure its schools based on a declining number of students.

Over the past 10 years, the district's enrollment has declined about 10 percent. It’s 2020-21 enrollment was under 9,400 student, with 4,400 attending elementary schools. The average enrollment is 367 students per school, which is 58 percent of the school’s average capacity. JC Crumpton Elementary, at 81-percent capacity, had the highest elementary enrollment.

Projections also show enrollment will continue to decline in the following years, as part of a trend that pre-dates the pandemic and will extend beyond the pandemic.

In 2019, MPUSD created the 2025+ Task Force, a committee  of parents, teachers, staff and community members who seek alternatives to address the district’s operations. They discussed and researched enrollment trends, student transfers and performance, and future changes within the district such as expanding grades at schools or condensing schools. Some of the recommendations included offer K-6 instead of K-5 elementary schools. 

Two of the schools set to close—Walter Colton and Foothill—are within the city of Monterey. “We really don’t have the numbers of students who reside in the city of Monterey to justify having five schools open,” Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh says. 

Once Colton Middle is closed, Monte Vista and La Mesa will expand to serve  transitional Kindergarten (TK) through eighth-grade during the 2023-24 school year.

California funds schools based on attendance. MPUSD is losing an average of 150 students per year, which translates to losing $2 million in funding.

The trend was exacerbated during the pandemic, with roughly 500 students—mostly kindergarten and transitional kindergarten students—withdrawing from the system. “We do expect some of those students to comeback post- pandemic,” Diffenbaugh says. 

But the Hall & Associates report notes that the overall trend is not specific to the pandemic: "While the pandemic affecting education has likely had a negative impact on enrollment losses in the 2020-21 year, it does not appear to be the sole cause of the decline given the historical trends we have witnessed to date."

The superintendent says they had to make a choice between cutting programs or closing schools. They decided on the latter. MPUSD offers different programs  at its campuses such as early childhood education, career technical education, mental health, art programs and more.

Diffenbaugh says an aging population isn’t the only factor that has contributed to low enrollment in the district. The cost of living on the Monterey Peninsula also drives away young families. (One data point is in Marina, where Phase 2 of The Dunes development now under construction will include workforce housing that will be priced in the $700,000s.)

“This is a larger problem that will take a systematic solution,” Diffenbaugh says. He says local politicians, business owners, school districts and community members have to address the lack of affordable housing and income adjusted to the cost of living otherwise the numbers will continue the same trend. MPUSD itself considered developing housing for its workforce, a plan that did not come to fruition in 2020 when the board voted against putting a housing bond on the ballot. 

Diffenbaugh says the school closure plan won’t result in layoffs. MPUSD hires an average of 80-100 teachers every year, and instead of hiring outside candidates, they will relocate teachers to other campuses.