Marysville school board talks pros and cons of closure options

MARYSVILLE — School closures are coming to the Marysville School District. The only question left: Which schools?

That was the topic of discussion at a district Board of Directors work session Monday, where board members spoke with administrative staff about the pros and cons of the three options on the table.

Closures are necessary to right-size the district as enrollment has dropped nearly 20% since 2011. Because the state allocates money to schools on a per-pupil basis, funding has dropped while the cost to run each school has remained the same or grown. Cutting schools would save money on administrative staff, utilities and building maintenance.

Schools would be closed starting in the 2025-2026 school year, in an effort to balance the district’s budget.

Last month, the district announced three options for school closures that met a goal of saving at least $2 million per year. At a school closure committee meeting after the announcement, staff and parents brought a fourth option to the table, school board President Connor Krebbs said Monday.

The first option would close Marysville Middle School and Liberty Elementary School, while reconfiguring elementary schools to serve K-6 grades. Liberty students would be relocated to the Marysville Middle School building, Legacy High School would move to the Marysville Getchell High School campus and 10th Street Middle School would be relocated to the Legacy High School building.

This move, particularly the K-6 reconfiguration, would be a “huge shift” for the district, school board Vice President Kristen Michal said Monday. Greg Dennis, safety and security director for the district, said each elementary school has enough empty room to accommodate the changes.

Board member Craig Hereth raised concerns about the costs to move Liberty Elementary into Marysville Middle School. The facility would need new bathrooms and playground equipment to accommodate the younger students. Dennis estimated the remodel would cost about $200,000, a one-time cost to realize millions in annual savings.

The second option would close Cascade and Liberty elementary schools, while relocating Legacy High to Marysville Getchell and 10th Street Middle School to the Legacy High building. The third option is identical to the second, but would also close Totem Middle School.

The third option would save the most money, more than $3 million per year, estimated Dave Burgess, interim superintendent for the district. Along with savings from cutting district administrative staff, the annual savings could total over $5 million.

But this option is also the most extreme, closing down three schools and filling the two remaining middle schools to their maximum capacity.

This process is already going to be a difficult one, board member Craig Hereth said. “Cutting as much as possible right now to get in shape” would help ensure officials don’t have to come back and make more cuts in the future, he said.

“It is our biggest cost savings. It is also the most impactful of all the decisions,” Burgess said, adding “I think a lot depends upon our appetite for that level of turmoil.”

Michal asked about the possibility of closing schools over time, keeping students at their current schools while sending new pupils to the schools set to take on the students from the closures.

This would not be feasible because of transportation difficulties, Dennis said. Bus routes would be split between students sent to the new schools and those who remained at their existing school.

The new fourth option is identical to the first, but would send Legacy High School students to the Totem Middle School campus instead of Marysville Getchell. This was raised due to concerns from faculty at Legacy, an alternative high school with a focus on college preparation and career and technical education. At a school board meeting, Krebbs said, some Legacy staff and students said they would not feel as comfortable at a comprehensive high school and felt they would rather relocate to Totem Middle School.

Relocating Legacy High School is necessary to meet the district’s savings goal, Burgess said.

The first and fourth option were the most popular among community members, according to a survey the district conducted, although none received over 50% approval. Option 4 got 49% approval, while 44% approved of option 1, 34% approved of option 2 and only 28% approved of option 3.

Burgess said “huge conclusions” shouldn’t be drawn from the survey because of its small sample size. Only 328 people responded.

“Each of these plans has something I like, and each of them has something I really don’t like at all,” Hereth said. “I’m trying to weed out the mashed potatoes from the peas here.”

No board member endorsed any of the options Monday. The administration also did not endorse any of the options, with Burgess saying it was up to the board to decide. The meeting did not have public comment.

The Marysville School District has been battling financial strife for years. A combination of the decreasing enrollment and a double levy failure in 2022 led to a serious decline in its financial standing. The district was placed under “binding financial conditions” with the state last year to help address its budget shortfall.

This August, a state auditor said the board and executive management did not take the steps necessary to guarantee the district can meet its financial obligations, calling the results of the audit “rare and alarming.” The district voted in October to oust Superintendent Zachary Robbins, who Burgess replaced.

“Without these cost savings, that minimum of $2 million, our budget will not be sustainable as early as next school year,” Burgess said. “I’m putting the pressure right there.”

A special meeting to decide on closures could take place as early as Monday, according to the district website, but no official date has been set. The board hopes to make a decision on which schools to close before the end of 2024, Krebbs said, to allow the administration to undertake a monthslong planning period.

Another work session is set for Thursday. Feedback can be provided to the district about the closures until Friday using an online form.

More information: https://www.msd25.org/page/school-closure-information.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.