School closure talks back on at Olympia School District 

The Olympia School District Board of Directors and Superintendent Patrick Murphy revived discussions about school closures to balance the budget at a meeting on Thursday, June 12.

Murphy stated that district staff could pursue school closures over the next three years to decrease expenditures and increase the fund balance, per OSD Board Policy 6883 on school closures.  

“Estimates, based on our analysis from two years ago, we would have to redo these, were that an elementary school closure would save a little bit more than a million dollars,” Murphy said. 

School consolidations and closures in the district were first discussed in 2023, and an outside consultant was hired to develop evaluation rubrics. 

The consultant considered parameters, such as school size, school utilization, future development potential and cost savings to identify the top seven schools for possible closure and consolidation. On top of the list were Madison Elementary School and McKenny Elementary School. 

Murphy explained that school size is different from utilization, as some smaller schools exhibit more utility. 

“That's the interesting thing about our small schools. Boston Harbor is really well utilized. That school is built to hold about 200 students, and there's about 180 students there. Whereas you look at a school like maybe Pioneer that has 350-360 students right now, and it can hold closer to 600,” Murphy said. 

A court ruling early in 2024 halted school closure talks, as the judge considered the board's decision to open a 90-day public comment period for closing two schools without public notice as “arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law.” 

In April 2024, closures went off the table as the district decided to adopt Murphy’s recommendation of excluding school closure as an option to remedy the budget deficit. 

Closures are projected to account for $2 million in additional revenue, which Murphy said will make the district “more fiscally solvent moving into the future.”