PITTSBURGH (PTTP) – Enrollment in the Pittsburgh Public School District has been on the decline for years now. The school board recently voted on a resolution for how to combat this issue.
Gene Walker, School Board President, and Representative of District Nine said, “Two weeks ago, I introduced a resolution that allowed, that…gave the superintendent authorization and a board approval to go ahead and start planning what a new district footprint, including consolidation, would look like. So really, that is the first step in…what’s going to be a fairly long process of figuring out how do we get ourselves to a place where our schools are sufficiently full but also have all of the resources that are necessary so that kids, can get the type of education that we want them to get.”
According to Walker, enrollment has been declining steadily for 15 or more years. He said that this decline could be for several reasons, including more options (like private schools) and a decrease in the population of school-aged children in Pittsburgh (families choosing to live outside of the city).
“The process, the thought is…how do we get ourselves into a manageable space where we can provide equitable offerings across the district so that students don’t have to travel all over the city, in order to find programming that works for them, but then too, how do we run financially efficient,” Walker continued.
According to 90.5 WESA, “Administrators are required to provide recommendations by March 15 for potential school consolidations and building closures.”
While an adjustment period is required, Walker thinks that with time, the school board and district will come up with something that makes people happy.