Many of the 17 Houston elementary and middle schools now being considered for possible closure or consolidation next year have had steep drop-offs in enrollment in the past decade, school system data shows.

The Houston Independent School District has been discussing whether or not to close some of its smallest schools since last year. HISD trustees have seen the list of possible schools go from 66 in December to 37 in March.

HISD trustees were set to vote on the possible closure of four elementary schools this week. But the district has put that decision on hold and is once again widening the pool of schools it will consider for closure or consolidation.

On the most recent list, released Tuesday by HISD spokesman Jason Spencer, there are 13 elementary schools and four middle schools. They are:

Elementaries:

• Memorial
• Paige
• N.Q. Henderson
• Port Houston
• Gordon
• Pleasantville
• Stevenson
• Houston Gardens
• Burrus
• Rhoads
• Grimes
• McDade
• Love

Middles:

• Ryan
• M.C. Williams
• Key
• Black

The list contains some familiar names of schools that have been at the center of the small school closure discussion since the beginning, including, Love, McDade, Grimes and Rhoads elementaries -- the four schools HISD trustees were set to consider closing Thursday.

More than half of the schools on the list received the state’s highest academic rating, “exemplary,” in 2010. Only one of the schools, Key Middle School, received the lowest academic rating of “academically unacceptable.” 

However, many of the schools have substantially lost students since 2000, according to HISD data, and many are projected to have only a minimal increase in the number of students, at best, through the 2019-2020 school year.

All of the schools on the list receive additional funding for their small size through the district’s “small school subsidy.” This year, HISD expects to spend more than $10 million on the subsidy it provides to schools it considers under-enrolled. To receive the subsidy, elementary schools must have 500 students or less, middle schools must have 750 or less and, for high schools, the cutoff is 1,000 students.

Two of the middle schools, Key and Ryan, are part of the district’s academic turnaround model, Apollo 20. This school year only nine middle and high schools in HISD were chosen as Apollo 20 schools, four high schools and five middle schools.

In February, HISD trustees approved a list of 11 elementary schools to participate in the Apollo 20 program next school year, one of those schools, Grimes, is being considered for closure next school year.

HISD says it will schedule community meetings in the coming weeks as it moves forward with the process of possibly closing or consolidating these schools. See enrollment figures and other data on the schools below.

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

Photo by flickr user Tallent Show, used under a Creative Commons license.