Chicago School Board Candidates Revisit Closures as Enrollment Plummets
When Michael Neal led a church service at Price Elementary in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood in late 2011, word spread among his congregation that the school would close at the end of that school year. What followed was a frantic “funeral march,” with staff scrambling for other jobs while leaving behind hallways piled high with desks and chairs. That episode helped make shuttering schools a politically toxic topic that Chicago officials have avoided. But in this fall’s historic school board election, candidates are once again debating closures. Around 12 out of the total 45 candidates indicated they would back select shutdowns as the system faces a drop of 76,000 students in the last ten years.
Chicago Public Schools currently operates roughly 500 schools, with more than 140 using less than half of their space. These underenrolled facilities are frequently housed in massive, aging buildings requiring millions in repairs. Forty-three of these schools are less than one-third full, according to Chicago Public Schools’ utilization measure. For candidates running in the hardest-hit areas, the debate has shifted toward the issue of student experience and outcomes. Neal, now running in district 6b on the South Side, argues that schools with very low enrollment cannot offer rich academic, extracurricular, and social opportunities.
The Divide Across Chicago Neighborhoods
Geographic disparities define the current election landscape. Within districts 5a and 5b on the West Side, where 43 out of 67 district-operated schools operate at under 50% capacity, resistance to any upcoming shutoffs runs very strong. Candidates in those sectors have lined up against shutting down facilities, arguing that another round of closures would destabilize predominantly Black neighborhoods, disrupt student learning, and increase gun violence. Rather, they suggest utilizing empty areas within school facilities for external services like grocery stores, food pantries, or medical clinics.
Hilario Dominguez, the Chicago Teachers Union’s favored candidate for school board president, argued against the district’s utilization metrics during an interview this summer. “When we talk about underenrolled schools, we should be clear we are talking about primarily Black and brown students in Black and brown neighborhoods that deserve more investment and not punishment,” Dominguez said. He and other candidates have at times questioned whether the district actually faces an enrollment emergency, with Dominguez describing “supposed underutilized schools” as “a term thrown around to undermine the district.”
Conversely, candidates in districts with fewer empty seats view the situation through a lens of administrative urgency. Ellen Rosenfeld, running unopposed in the North Side’s district 4b where only one of 15 district-run schools is considered underutilized, called the status quo unacceptable. “What we’re doing, it’s not working. It’s insanity and it’s wasteful,” Rosenfeld said, noting that the 2013 closures are a cautionary tale but cannot dominate the conversation 13 years later.
Weighing Academic Disruption Against Empty Space
Opponents of future consolidation point to the academic disruption caused by the 2013 closures. Shannon Bennett, executive director of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, dismissed the idea that future closures could be handled with better community outreach. “They want to put lipstick on a pig and call it a beauty queen,” Bennett said, adding that “closures are a nonstarter in these communities.”
Yet researchers note that ignoring the issue carries its own penalty for students. David Stovall, a professor of Black studies at the University of Illinois Chicago, contends that while large-scale closures remain politically fraught, maintaining some of these severely underenrolled campuses is failing the student body. “The folks who are saying, ‘Is this really a crisis?’ are missing the point,” Stovall said. “This is not going to get any better.”
Looking Toward the New Elected Board in January 2027
The debate lands directly on the doorstep of the city’s first fully elected school board. Danny Vesecky, who serves as a senior policy and research associate at Civic Federation—a nonpartisan think tank located in Chicago—expressed his wish that the newly elected school board will address the problem of low enrollment during their initial session in January 2027. He called the 2013 closures “shockingly rushed” and urged more thoughtful planning. “I want to see the new board dig in on Day 1,” Vesecky said, “because it’s going to be a really long process.”
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