Mayor Adams, face facts — and close failing schools before it’s too late

When Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos decided last month not to adjust New York City’s public school budgets mid-year, it only delayed the inevitable: New York City has too many district schools — and some of them need to close.

Since 2016, well before the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment in the city’s district schools has declined by 130,000, almost 14%.

Kindergarten enrollment, in particular, has decreased by 17%, a sign that the problem is entrenched.

The numbers would be even worse but for the influx of 40,000 migrant students — a trend that’s unlikely to continue as President-elect Donald Trump enacts his proposed border and deportation policies.

This decline in enrollment without accompanying budget cuts has ballooned the city’s education spending to approximately $39,000 per student, making NYC the most lavishly funded urban district in the country.

But it’s all smoke and mirrors of a sort: The city Department of Education has yet to face the “fiscal cliff” that will come in 2026, when federal pandemic aid disappears — costing it an estimated $556 million in lost government grants.

The situation is untenable, and closing and consolidating schools is the only viable solution.

The alternative, “holding harmless” schools’ budgets despite considerable drops in enrollment, is worse.

Currently, multiple city schools have fewer than 100 students. Their performance is disastrous, yet their per-pupil cost is the same as that of the most expensive private schools in the city.

For $63,007 per student at MS 514 in West Harlem, for example, students should be receiving a top-notch education. In reality, the school prepares just 21% of students to read at grade level.

This perverse dynamic has changed the incentives for principals.

If they can lose students and keep the same budget, school leaders have no need to convince families to enroll or stay enrolled in their schools — unlike the city’s private and charter schools, which lose revenue if enrollment drops.

Rewarding this failure is only hastening the exodus of families who are lucky enough to nab a charter-school seat or can afford to leave the city, switch to private schools or home school.

At least 80 NYC district schools had fewer than 150 students in the 2023-24 school year.

A few of these are specialized schools that are intentionally small to provide extra support for students with special needs, but most are ordinary neighborhood schools where enrollment is declining in the face of low academic performance. 

At least 13 non-specialized schools with fewer than 100 students have suffered dramatic enrollment declines of up to 67% in the past five years. Many are in The Bronx and Brooklyn, the two boroughs that lost the greatest number of students — 32,739 and 24,056, respectively — in that same time frame.

The problem of low enrollment is particularly acute for high schools, which need a minimum number of students to offer advanced courses and guidance counselors. 

Keeping these troubled schools open makes no sense whatsoever — and the city should make these hard decisions now, before we hit the 2026 fiscal cliff.

Closing schools when times are good, or at least before they get awful, will give the DOE more time to help staff and students through what can be a painful transition.

Studies show that school closures can benefit students — if the change gives them access to better schools, which proper planning can allow.

Phase-out closure, which occurs gradually as schools stop accepting new students (as opposed to immediate school shutdown), is the least disruptive method, but it requires a lengthy timeline for implementation.

A careful consolidation plan could also include assistance from philanthropic sources to give the schools receiving displaced students access to extra funds and support during the transition.

Mayor Adams and the chancellor must tell New Yorkers the truth: We have too many public schools for too few students, and our schools cost too much for the learning they produce.

Our public school system is the country’s most expensive and least efficient, federal aid is ending, and consolidation is the best way to adjust the budget and minimize disruptions for our students.

School closures are always difficult and will surely generate pushback — not least from teachers’ unions and other politically powerful voices.

But the alternative will be even more damaging to students, and eventually to us all.

Danyela Souza Egorov is an elected parent at CEC District 2 and founder of Families for NYC.