AN UNEXPECTED bump in the budget of the Boston public schools buys Superintendent Carol Johnson time to get her house in order without immediate battles over classroom cuts. But the school department's day of reckoning will arrive soon, and when it does the public must be prepared for the consolidation and closing of several schools.
On Wednesday, the School Committee approved an $827.5 million school budget that includes $10 million from a city reserve account not normally used for operating costs. It's a fiscally risky move at a time of negligible increases in state aid and increased costs for collective bargaining contracts. But Mayor Menino wants to send a message of confidence in his new school superintendent, who must still eliminate dozens of administrative positions to balance her budget.
Boston can no longer staff and maintain 144 schools. Enrollment has dropped to 56,000, a decline of more than 5,000 students since 2002. There are about 7,500 empty seats in the city's elementary and middle schools. Some, like the sparsely attended Lewis Middle School in Roxbury, rarely are chosen first by Boston families. And city officials are eyeing at least another half-dozen underperforming, underchosen schools for a future closings list. The budget bailout spared the need to make such decisions now. But short of a massive influx of new students, such closings are inevitable.
Johnson is a veteran of school-closing battles in Memphis. She has proven steely enough to face angry parents who often rally around the worst of schools for emotional reasons. But she will face plenty of sensible questions as well. Why, for example, should a school be closed instead of slated for help by an academic turnaround team from the state Department of Education? How can the Menino administration meet its goal of paring $10 million in student transportation costs if it closes schools in Roxbury, Dorchester, or Mattapan, where most students live? And why has the mayor been looking into leasing empty parochial schools at the same time that he is preparing to close city-owned schools?
In Memphis, Johnson benefited from a master plan that ranked and evaluated building conditions, maintenance costs, transportation costs, student performance, attendance boundaries, and other factors that must be considered when closing schools. That task required a sizeable team about 10 months to complete, according to newspaper accounts. Menino, meanwhile, wants to see a plan in September.
That plan needs to be persuasive - not just to the mayor, but to a city of nervous parents.
