There were 248,000 American public schools in 1930; today there are 99,000. A century ago, as reformers consolidated schools in an effort to stamp out scholastic parochialism, smaller communities, robbed of an institutional, social and economic cornerstone, did everything they could to stop the process. But then, as now, they were helpless. Those schools were absorbed by the city and forgotten or simply demolished. It is unlikely the current crop of schools, aging, enormous, and sometimes dilapidated, will fade so easily into the urban fabric. Reasons for closure and possibilities for rehabilitation remain closely tied in a way that frustrates cities’ efforts. Growing enrollment in charter schools, which has tripled nationally over the last decade, has sapped students (and money) directly from public schools. And when public schools shut down, charter schools are the beneficiaries, occupying over 40 percent of repurposed public schools in Pew’s study. Some cities, like Chicago, wary of this cyclical process, have barred future educational uses for schools for decades after sale.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 00:21:42 +0000
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