The South Bay Union School District plans to close at least one elementary school amid declining enrollment.
The district’s enrollment has dropped by 40% since 2011, a consultant told the board in February.
“When you lose roughly 50% of your student population, you can’t keep the same amount of schools that you’ve had,” Superintendent Jose Espinoza said in February.
State funding for schools is tied to average daily attendance, which drops when enrollment shrinks. Between 2023-24 and 2024-25, the district’s funding dropped by more than $5 million, according to the district.
“We understand that any repurposing of a school community is very difficult on communities, on students, on staff, on everyone in our district,” Espinoza said in February. “But we hope that we also understand that doing nothing is also a huge impact on that same community. If we do nothing, I believe we will be in a much worse place, because we’re not managing our district in a fiscally responsible manner.”
On Wednesday, the district’s school board voted unanimously to close Central Elementary School after the 2025-26 school year.
District administrators suggested planning for two other school closures by 2031. According to their proposal, Sunnyslope Elementary would close in 2028 and Berry Elementary would close in 2030. The three schools were selected based on community input and schools’ enrollment, location, size and cost of facility upgrades, they said.
Board member Jose Lopez Eguino suggested waiting to see if additional closures were necessary after Central closes.
“I would like to eliminate the names of the schools until we get there,” he said. “If those are the schools that need to close when we reevaluate, so be it. But if it turns out there are other schools that need to close, then we can go that route. Or, ideally, we don’t close any of the schools.”
The board also requested quarterly updates from district administrators about the closure plan.
Assistant Superintendent Rigo Lara said district leaders will spend the next year planning student transportation, staffing and school attendance boundaries. They’ll also develop maintenance and enrollment plans at Nestor Elementary School, which has a popular language academy.
