The Alum Rock (California) school board has voted to close six schools for the 2025-26 school year,
San Jose Spotlight reports that the closures were prompted by multiple factors, including a $20 million budget deficit, the loss of temporary Covid relief funds, and a districtwide drop in enrollment from more than 10,000 students in 2015-16 to about 7,270 students in 2024-25.
According to the plan approved by the board, one of the six closed schools will reopen in 2026-27, but two more will be closed. Three schools will be consolidated and three redesigned.
“For us to maintain local control and keep our programs, we have to reduce (schools) this year,” Superintendent German Cerda said. “This year the closings are the first step....We’ll be able to be smaller, leaner. We’re spread way too thin."
For 2025-26, Sylvia Cassell, Horace Cureton, A.J. Dorsa and Donald Meyer elementary schools are closing. Joseph George Middle School and Renaissance Academy at Fischer also are closing.
Learning in an Urban Community with High Achievement, or LUCHA, will be consolidated with San Antonio Elementary. Ben Painter Elementary will consolidate with William Sheppard Middle School, retaining its English and Vietnamese dual language immersion programs.
In 2026-27, Adelante II Academy will merge into Adelante Dual Language Academy, relocating to Renaissance at Fischer. Aptitud Academy and Hubbard Media Art Academy will be reconfigured to serve transitional kindergarten to fifth grade students. Cesar Chavez Early Learning Center will continue with pre-kindergarten; its transitional kindergarten and kindergarten grades wil move to San Antonio Elementary.
Criteria for school closures include a district equity analysis, enrollment trends, proximity to charter schools, the condition of existing facilities and recent renovations, special programs and the cost savings needed, district spokesperson Sergio Diaz Luna said. Staffing will be reduced districtwide to help close the budget shortfall, he added.
