After decades of shrinking enrollment and facing a looming budget deficit, Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) leaders are preparing to close and merge schools.
District CEO Warren Morgan has hinted at potential closures for more than a year. He told more than 100 parents, teachers and community members during a meeting last week that school closings have to happen, though he stopped short of saying how many buildings the district would shutter.
The meeting, held at Garrett Morgan High School, was the first in a series of community meetings CMSD is hosting as part of its Building Brighter Futures Initiative.
District leaders are aiming to cut $30 million in expenses through the initiative while at the same time improving school quality across the district. The initiative is only one part of the district’s goal to cut $150 million before it runs out of money in 2028.
Any potential school closures won’t happen until the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year, Morgan said. CMSD is hosting six more in-person community meetings and three online meetings throughout April. The next in-person meeting will be at John F. Kennedy High School on Wednesday, April 16.
Morgan and other CMSD leaders will determine potential closures over the summer and into the beginning of next school year, according to a presentation at the meeting. Then, in the fall, they will make recommendations to the CMSD Board of Education, which will have to vote on them. The district will take the remaining time to prepare for relocations before actually closing buildings at the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year.
Empty seats and state funding
CMSD needs to close schools because most of its buildings have empty seats, Morgan said. The district’s schools have space for about 50,000 students. CMSD currently enrolls about 34,000 students, about half the number it had 20 years ago.
The district closed more than 20 schools from 2009 to 2011, according to reporting at the time. In 2019, the district closed four buildings. Still, CMSD maintains more school buildings than other districts of similar size. Cincinnati Public Schools, for example, has 61 schools for its 34,761 students, according to state data. CMSD has about 90 schools for 34,598 students.
By closing and merging schools, CMSD is aiming to enroll at least 450 students in every K-8 school and 500 students in every high school, Morgan said. Right now, nine of CMSD’s 63 K-8 schools and three of its 27 high schools meet those enrollment goals, according to district data.
Decreasing birth rates play a role in CMSD’s declining enrollment, Morgan said. The share of Cleveland students going to CMSD versus private and charter schools has stayed pretty steady over the last five years, he said, but the number of school-aged children has decreased. The state gives Ohio school districts a set amount of money for each student, so fewer students means less state funding.
Morgan: Fewer schools, more opportunity
Concentrating CMSD’s students in fewer schools will make it easier for the district to provide better academics and more extracurricular activities at all of its schools, Morgan said. As it is now, many CMSD schools offer different kinds of programs and classes, he said. Some smaller K-8 schools don’t have enough students for things such as basketball teams or bands, he said.
“We know we have too many schools,” Morgan said. “With strong enrollment in the buildings that we need, we’re going to be able to offer more and better opportunities.”
Morgan wants every high school to offer college credit classes and specialized career training programs. In K-8 schools, he wants extra classes such as Algebra I, computer science, foreign language, band and choir as well as more team sports.
Lingering questions
During the community meeting at Garrett Morgan High School, parents, teachers and community members broke into groups to talk about how potential cuts could impact students, families and neighborhoods. Here are some of the questions and considerations they raised:
- What happens to school buildings after they close?
- How would closing a school impact the safety and sense of community in the neighborhood around it?
- Does increasing enrollment at smaller schools mean students would get less individualized attention?
- How would moving children to a different school impact their well-being and mental health?
- How are tax abatements in Cleveland impacting CMSD’s ability to collect property taxes?
- CMSD needs to have a relocation plan for students and staff well before a school closes, and district leaders need to transparently inform people about big changes.
- CMSD should consider how close schools are to main roads when looking at closing them.
- CMSD should offer more training and career pathways for the trades.
More information about the Building Brighter Futures initiative, including the dates and times for the community meetings, is available on the district’s website.