Columbus City Schools, Ohio's largest district with roughly 47,000 students spread across 112 physical campus buildings, is proposing to close 10 schools and two annexes as part of a plan to close a projected budget shortfall exceeding $30 million for fiscal year 2028. The proposal, reported by the community outlet We Are Home, follows $67.5 million in spending reductions the district already achieved between fiscal years 2025 and 2027, which included two previous rounds of school closures approved in December 2024 and December 2025. District officials point to years of enrollment decline, aging infrastructure, and elementary building utilization averaging 75 percent as the basis for the recommendations. The Board of Education is scheduled to receive formal closure proposals in December 2026.
Three rounds of closures in three years
The consolidation push began in December 2024, when the board voted to close five of nine schools recommended by a facilities task force: Broadleigh Elementary, Buckeye Middle School, the McGuffey Road site housing Columbus Alternative High School, Moler Elementary, and West Broad Elementary, with the last closure contingent on securing replacement funding. A motion to close North Linden Elementary failed. One year later, in December 2025, the board approved approximately $50.4 million in cuts that included closing four additional buildings: Columbus Gifted Academy (formerly Everett Middle School), Como Elementary, Fairwood Alternative Elementary, and Duxberry Park Arts Impact Elementary. Those cuts also involved faculty and staff reductions, 60 administrative positions, program cuts, and the elimination of K-8 transportation for non-100 percent lottery school students. The board's December 2024 closures, according to a district decision page, will not take effect before the 2026-2027 school year.
The new proposal identifies 10 more schools and two annexes for potential closure, aiming for $12.9 million in savings from building changes and $6.5 million from reduced busing. The district's financial picture has continued to worsen. As of August 2026, Columbus City Schools was projected to deficit spend more than $50 million in the current fiscal year and to run out of cash by fiscal year 2030, despite the prior year's deep cuts, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Treasurer Ryan Cook reported that while revenue is expected to grow more than twice as fast as expenses, a $93.4 million health insurance premium increase over the five-year forecast and changes to state property tax law are compounding the strain. In September 2026, the board directed the superintendent, treasurer, and auditor to identify potential reductions totaling $50 million by the start of the 2027 school year, with proposed cuts due by December 31. Board Chair Antoinette Miranda said more staff cuts and school closures are likely.
Comparative precedent
Research presented to the Columbus board in May 2024 by Vladimir Kogan, a researcher with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, found that the district operates approximately 30 more schools than peer Ohio districts serving similar numbers of students with comparable racial and economic demographics. Since 1994, the school-aged population within Columbus City Schools boundaries increased, but actual enrollment fell 28 percent. The number of schools was reduced only 19 percent over the same period, meaning right-sizing has consistently lagged behind enrollment decline. Kogan also noted that the average Columbus high school enrolls 210 fewer students than 30 years ago, a pattern that can limit curricular offerings. The analysis did not assess the academic impact of closures on displaced students.
State policy may also be reshaping the landscape. A Columbus City Schools board presentation from November 2025 noted that the Ohio legislature is considering a law that would force school districts to sell buildings operating below 60 percent enrollment. Several of the district's legacy buildings already fall well below that threshold: a November 2025 board presentation listed Columbus Preparatory School for Boys at 22 percent utilization, Fairwood at 36 percent, CCPS Girls at 39 percent, Marion-Franklin at 39 percent, Duxberry at 46 percent, Mifflin Middle School at 54 percent, and Como at 59 percent.
Research and community input
Kogan's presentation also noted that Columbus City Schools was one of the last Ohio districts to resume in-person instruction during the pandemic, a factor he linked to the loss of more than 2,300 students, or 5 percent of enrollment, between 2019 and 2021. The evidence base on closure outcomes in Columbus remains limited; Kogan's analysis did not evaluate how earlier building closings affected student performance or neighborhood access.
The Advancement Project, a community advocacy group, developed a model school closure policy for Columbus City Schools, updated in August 2025, that calls for any closure recommendation to include a written explanation of the educational, safety, transportation, relocation, and non-discrimination impacts on students and families. The model reflects a broader concern that school closures can disproportionately harm students from protected classes and that districts should verify whether the claimed benefits outweigh the associated costs before proceeding.