Number of schools on HISD's chopping block drops to 4 (again) -- but Love Elementary is saved

Four elementary schools in the Houston school system are being considered for closure due to their low enrollment, the district announced Thursday — but Love Elementary School has been spared after all.

Once again on the small school closure list: Grimes, McDade and Rhoads elementary schools in the Houston Independent School District. Missing from the list is Love Elementary, which, along with those three schools, was being considered for possible closure earlier this month.

HISD has also added one school to the list: Stevenson Elementary, just outside Memorial Park, near the Houston Heights neighborhood.

Under the newest proposal from HISD, students from Grimes and Rhoads would attend Woodson, a pre-kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school beginning next school year. Students from McDade would attend one of three schools next year: Paige, Kashmere Gardens or Cook elementaries. Students from Stevenson would be directed to Memorial and Love elementaries.

If all four schools are closed, HISD says it expects to save more than $1.6 million. The savings would come from the district not having to supply additional funding to the under-enrolled schools through it’s “small school” subsidy. This year HISD expects to spend more than $10 million providing additional funding to its smallest schools.

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said he expects the savings to be greater than the $1.6 million, citing the savings from principals’ salaries, school operation costs (such as electricity and air conditioning) and more.

HISD trustees are scheduled to vote on the possible closure of these schools May 12.

Earlier this month HISD said it was considering 17 schools for possible closure. In December the list contained 66 HISD campuses, and in March, there were 37 campuses on the list.

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Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org or on Twitter at @lwalsh. 

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Photo of ‘Chopping Block’ by flickr user J Heffner, used via a Creative Commons license.

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