Three more Vallejo schools could close this school year

VALLEJO – Superintendent Rubén Aurelio estimated on Monday that the Vallejo City Unified School District will need to close three additional schools at the end of this school year in order to stay financially stable. 

“I get asked a lot as the superintendent, ‘how many more schools do you need to close?’” Aurelio told a school district committee tasked with recommending school closures during a meeting Monday. “Right now if you ask me, I’m saying three.”

Aurelio called the process of closing schools “difficult,” and said “no one is going to be happy. That’s just the sad reality.”

Aurelio also said that the district still needs to get more data, and the number of closures he sees as necessary could change.

“I’m starting with three but that doesn’t mean it will remain three,” Aurelio said. “It could go up or down.”

Of its eighteen total schools, district officials have asked the committee to consider six elementary schools for possible closure this year: Cooper, Federal Terrace, Highland, Lincoln, Pennycook, and Steffan Manor. 

In February the school board voted to close two schools which served transitional kindergarten to eighth grade students: Loma Vista Environmental Science Academy and Mare Island Health and Fitness Academy. 

The district called last year’s closures “phase one.” The next round, which district leaders expect the school board to decide on in December, is phase two. During Monday’s meeting, Aurelio expressed hope that a phase three of closures won’t happen, and that further closures won’t be necessary for the foreseeable future.

“I have hopes that that line will flatten and then increase if we do what we’re supposed to as a district,” Aurelio said, referring to a chart showing enrollment declines. “I would really love to avoid a phase three. I really want to be done after phase two so we can start to grow.”

District and state leaders have long attributed the need to close VCUSD schools to its declining enrollment, as the district relies on enrollment for most of its funding. The district has been steadily losing enrollment since 2004, when it served about 18,000 students. 

Last school year, according to the latest data presented at the meeting, the district enrolled 9,656 students, which means it’s lost almost half its enrollment over the last two decades.

Last year’s enrollment declined by 200 students from the 2023-24 school year. While continuing on a downward trend, the loss was less than in previous years. Between 2020 and 2024, the district averaged about a 4.25% enrollment decline each year. Last school year, the district only lost about 2% enrollment.

As part of the committee’s recommendations to the school board, which are scheduled to be finalized on Aug. 11, the committee is tasked with ranking the schools in terms of priority for closure. Aurelio recommended prioritizing Lincoln, Pennycook, and Cooper for closure. 

Lincoln enrolled 70 students last year, the lowest enrollment of any school serving children in VCUSD, and only offered classes for transitional kindergarten through second grade. It’s likely its enrollment will be slightly higher this upcoming school year, as it will expand to also offer classes for third graders. It enrolled a disproportionately large number of Black students last year, about 36%, compared to the rest of the district, which enrolled about 19% of Black students.

Pennycook and Cooper both offer classes for transitional kindergarten through fifth grade students. Last year they enrolled 364 and 335 students, respectively. Aurelio said that if Cooper were to close, its students would be consolidated into Steffan Manor.

In its presentation, district leadership estimated if Lincoln were to close it would save $300,000 per school year. If Pennycook or Cooper were to close, the district estimates it would save $600,000 and $450,000 per year, respectively. 

During the public comment portion of the committee meeting, three people spoke against closing Federal Terrace, which enrolled 225 students last year. They each praised the school and mentioned transportation issues that could make it difficult for students to attend another district school should it close.“We’re the only school on this side of town,” said Collette Laie, who works as a library media tech at Federal Terrace. “If we were to close, students are going to have to cross the bridge to Mare Island or horribly busy streets.”

In addition to closing schools, the committee is also tasked with determining if a school campus can be designated as surplus property, which would allow the district to sell, lease, or repurpose it. District leaders have asked the committee if it will designate the John Finney Education Complex as surplus. While Aurelio has said that the district is not considering closing any of the programs at the complex – which hosts small schools for students who face academic challenges, special education students, and other students in unique circumstances – the district is considering leasing or selling the property.

In its presentation, district leaders suggested that the John Finney programs could be moved to Pennycook or Cooper if they are closed. Lincoln’s campus could be used to provide community services, such as preschool programs, spring and summer programs for tutoring and mental health services, or partnering with the city of Vallejo to provide a clinic or parenting and ESL classes.

If schools were to close, Aurelio said, he wants the district to “reimagine what we will do with the schools that are receiving students” who leave the shuttered schools.

“How do we make those schools attractive to our community so we don’t lose students to American Canyon or Benicia,” Aurelio said. “We should ensure they have programs our community wants. I’ve heard a lot since last year about a performing arts program; we should start that at the elementary schools. We should put our energy into something like that.”