Cleveland Metropolitan School District announced Wednesday a consolidation plan that will impact every corner of the district and city.
If the plan is approved by the board of education when it votes in early December, the district will close 18 buildings, end five leases and have 29 fewer schools operating starting in the 2026-2027 school year. Students and staff will move into the remaining buildings.
If approved, the district will have 45 elementary schools, down from 61 schools at 62 buildings, and 14 high schools, down from 27 schools at 23 buildings.
The district has seen its enrollment drop by half since the early 2000s, down to about 34,000 students as of 2024, and officials have said the district is facing budget challenges as costs rise and state and federal funding declines. CMSD CEO Warren Morgan said the consolidation will save about $30 million every year.
“This moment demands action,” Morgan said
Morgan and the district have also said that it must consolidate in order to provide a better educational experience for all students, by focusing resources on a smaller number of schools.
All of the district’s multi-high school campuses like John Hay will be merged into single programs. The John Hay School of Science and Medicine, Cleveland Early College High School and the John Hay School of Architecture and Design will all become one, for example.
Collinwood High School will be merged with Glenville High School, and Campus International High School will be merged with the John Hay campus.
In the case of Collinwood and Glenville, the two schools will eventually be located in a new high school on the Northeast Side that will open by 2031.
In terms of elementary school mergers, Kenneth Clement Boys Leadership Academy and Valley View Boys Leadership Academy – which are almost 20 miles apart and on opposite sides of the city - will be combined and moved to the Mary M. Bethune Building, and renamed for the Kenneth Clement program. The district’s two Montessori programs will also move to new buildings.
Morgan said the district will “explore all options to keep as many employees as possible,” while following union agreements, so it’s not yet clear if layoffs will result from the merger.
He said the district wants every school to have strong enrollment, defined as 450 students at each elementary school and 500 students at each high school, which the plan will accomplish. He also said it wants every student to learn in a new or recently updated building, which will become a reality in the coming years as new buildings come online.
Finally, Morgan said the plan will also achieve a goal for students at each high school to have access to college credit and career pathway programs starting next school year, and for each K-8 school to offer at least one new non-core course offering like band, foreign languages or Algebra 1 in eighth grade, also starting next school year. In some cases, Morgan said students will have access to new sports and extracurriculars where they had few before.
There was no public comment session during the meeting Wednesday. However, the district said additional speaking slots and time will be available at the next three meetings while the board considers the plan.
The final vote is scheduled for Dec. 9.
