Hayward public school closures (Oakland, Alameda: middle-class, homes, school district)

[510native]

A friend whose kids attend public school in Hayward told me yesterday that the district has just voted to close two elementary schools, including the one her kids attend, so naturally she is upset about that.

I was truly surprised to hear this news. I do not live in Hayward, but I worked there for several years until very recently and also attended school in Hayward many years ago. So, I'm fairly familiar with the city. In addition I have other friends and acquaintances who live there, most of whom have school-age kids. I know many districts in California have seen declining enrollment in recent years, in part due to people moving either to the Central Valley, etc. or out of CA altogether.

However, I had thought--perhaps wrongly--that Hayward remained one of the very few somewhat affordable cities for working- and middle-class families in the East Bay. (Stress on "somewhat"--I realize that "affordable" is not how most people would describe any Bay Area housing.) I also know that many HUSD schools have never had the best reputation, but still, people who don't have or don't want the options of private schools or homeschooling still need schools.

I guess I'm just surprised Hayward has lost enough households with children to warrant closing two schools. Another factor is that I drive on Mission Blvd. several times a month, and to me it looks like new housing is being built there left and right (literally). I find it hard to believe it's all going to be occupied by singles or couples without kids, even though most of the new housing is not SFHs. Is the decline in enrollment due mainly to people moving out of the area because they can no longer even afford Hayward? That saddens me. Just wondering whether anyone has more insight about this.

[mattja]

Wow, I wouldn't have believed that unless you told me. With all the illegal aliens coming to the East Bay I would expect enrollment to increase. The schools are bad in the poorer areas of the East Bay, so maybe they just closed the worst performers before the state took control of the entire district? Oakland Unified went into receivership in 2003 and the State of California took control. Oakland Unified lost all local control, IIRC.

[Always Needmore]

Originally Posted by 510native

A friend whose kids attend public school in Hayward told me yesterday that the district has just voted to close two elementary schools, including the one her kids attend, so naturally she is upset about that.

I was truly surprised to hear this news. I do not live in Hayward, but I worked there for several years until very recently and also attended school in Hayward many years ago. So, I'm fairly familiar with the city. In addition I have other friends and acquaintances who live there, most of whom have school-age kids. I know many districts in California have seen declining enrollment in recent years, in part due to people moving either to the Central Valley, etc. or out of CA altogether.
. Just wondering whether anyone has more insight about this.

Enrollment is down 25% over the past 20 years, they claim to be faced with a budget shortfall of $14 million, and systemwide they have a need for $900 million in building repairs.

I admit that I am just speculating, but I'd venture a guess that the two they have scheduled to close have the most dire need for repairs. And closing the buildings might be a step towards dodging those costs? They might have big-ticket items in need of repair in the targeted facilities.

https://abc7news.com/hayward-school-...ools/11248638/

A question that MIGHT be worth asking, is just how did those buildings get into such bad shape? Ostensibly in a well run school system, annual allowances are set aside as part of the normal operating budget.

Where I currently live (not Hayward) the local school system made an unpopular pitch for new buildings 10 years ago, and in the ensuing fallout it was determined that the existing buildings were in such bad shape because over the prior TWO DECADES the facilities maintenance budget was being siphoned in order to cover the teachers retirement fund.

Not saying that is necessarily the underlying root to the Hayward dilemma, but it certainly is a smoking gun that I would keep an eye open for.

[510native]

@AlwaysNeedMore, those are good points that it may be an infrastructure issue in part. I hadn't thought of that. I currently work in another Bay Area school district, and on my particular campus, we have buildings that have not been updated at all since the 1960s, including portables. (I'm in a well-off district, too. It's shameful.) I had no idea that Hayward enrollment was down as much as 25% (!). Wow.


@Mattja, I also agree with you about the increase in the student population due to illegal immigration. It's already been happening this year (2021-22 school year) in the district where I work. Just a few months ago, a colleague at one of the high schools in our district was telling me about a young woman who'd just arrived illegally from El Salvador and who is completely illiterate, even in Spanish, sadly. My colleague said she doesn't seem to be intellectually disabled, just completely uneducated. There are several recently-arrived illegal immigrant students at the campus I work on also. (For those who may ask, why do I assume they entered the country illegally--I'm not assuming. Many of the students are in fact quite open about their immigration status.) For that reason alone, I also wonder if Hayward is going to end up needing the schools they've closed after all. Housing is considerably cheaper in Hayward than in the district where I work, so if we have been enrolling children of illegal immigrants recently, I can only imagine HUSD will end up enrolling more.



Thank you both for the info and insights.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by Always Needmore

Enrollment is down 25% over the past 20 years, they claim to be faced with a budget shortfall of $14 million, and systemwide they have a need for $900 million in building repairs.

I admit that I am just speculating, but I'd venture a guess that the two they have scheduled to close have the most dire need for repairs. And closing the buildings might be a step towards dodging those costs? They might have big-ticket items in need of repair in the targeted facilities.

https://abc7news.com/hayward-school-...ools/11248638/

A question that MIGHT be worth asking, is just how did those buildings get into such bad shape? Ostensibly in a well run school system, annual allowances are set aside as part of the normal operating budget.

Where I currently live (not Hayward) the local school system made an unpopular pitch for new buildings 10 years ago, and in the ensuing fallout it was determined that the existing buildings were in such bad shape because over the prior TWO DECADES the facilities maintenance budget was being siphoned in order to cover the teachers retirement fund.

Not saying that is necessarily the underlying root to the Hayward dilemma, but it certainly is a smoking gun that I would keep an eye open for.

This crazy. I see posted always bragging how rich the state is and how all the other states pale.
With that much money the education system in California should far exceed all others.

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by Always Needmore

Where I currently live (not Hayward) the local school system made an unpopular pitch for new buildings 10 years ago, and in the ensuing fallout it was determined that the existing buildings were in such bad shape because over the prior TWO DECADES the facilities maintenance budget was being siphoned in order to cover the teachers retirement fund.

Not saying that is necessarily the underlying root to the Hayward dilemma, but it certainly is a smoking gun that I would keep an eye open for.

Cal STRS is a state fund. Nobody is "siphoning" money earmarked for repairs to pay retirement benefits.

[davdaven]

Public school enrollment declines and budget deficiencies are common around here. Especially in a high-cost area like the Bay Area, families tend to move out to the suburbs where better schools are located. The population that moves in is childless. There was talk of closing an elementary school in Alameda a year or two ago, and my understanding is they picked one that needed significant capital improvements. And that's a quote-unquote good school district. SFUSD is facing a fiscal crisis and will likely close schools. And where I live, which has terrible schools like Oakland does, there is talk of closing the local middle school. Test scores are awful, the District's finances are in tatters, and the school's buildings are in such bad shape. At some point it becomes cost inefficient to spend tens of millions of dollars fixing up a school that nobody wants to attend if they have an alternative.

[mattja]

Originally Posted by davdaven

Public school enrollment declines and budget deficiencies are common around here. Especially in a high-cost area like the Bay Area, families tend to move out to the suburbs where better schools are located. The population that moves in is childless. There was talk of closing an elementary school in Alameda a year or two ago, and my understanding is they picked one that needed significant capital improvements. And that's a quote-unquote good school district. SFUSD is facing a fiscal crisis and will likely close schools. And where I live, which has terrible schools like Oakland does, there is talk of closing the local middle school. Test scores are awful, the District's finances are in tatters, and the school's buildings are in such bad shape. At some point it becomes cost inefficient to spend tens of millions of dollars fixing up a school that nobody wants to attend if they have an alternative.

So the California lottery and numerous multi-billion dollar bond issues didn't solve the problem?

[vunderbar]

Originally Posted by mattja

So the California lottery and numerous multi-billion dollar bond issues didn't solve the problem?

Many experts never thought they would. They fought against lottery funding for schools, predicting exactly what we're seeing.