Kyrene School District committee releases potential school closure list: here's what to know

PHOENIX - Officials with one East Valley school district are recommending the closure of a number of its schools. Here's what to know about Kyrene School District's proposed plan.

What part of Phoenix does the Kyrene School District serve?

Big picture view:

According to a boundary map, the district covers the entirety of Phoenix's Ahwatukee Foothills neighborhood, in addition to parts of Chandler, South Phoenix, Tempe, and the Gila River Indian Community.

What schools are they closing?

What we know:

According to the district's website, their Long Range Planning Committee will present a plan to the governing board in September on which schools to keep open, and which ones should close.

The plan recommends the closure of the following schools:

• Kyrene Akimel A-al Middle School
• Kyrene de la Colina Elementary
• Kyrene de la Estrella Elementary
• Kyrene de la Mariposa Elementary
• Kyrene de las Manitas Innovation Academy
• Kyrene del Pueblo Middle School
• Kyrene Traditional Academy

The proposal also calls for Kyrene del Milenio Elementary School to be repurposed as the district's gifted academy, and for Kyrene del Norte in Tempe and Kyrene de los Lagos in Ahwatukee to be repurposed as a dual language academies.

Of the schools recommended for closure, three of them - Colina, Estrella, and Akimel A-al - are located in Ahwatukee. Three others (Mariposa, Pueblo, and Kyrene Traditional Academy) are located in Chandler, and one (Manitas) is located in Tempe.

Kyrene officials have also laid out a proposed timeline for the school closures, with Colina, Estrella, Milenio and Manitas closing in the 2026-2027 school year, and Akimel A-al, Mariposa, Pueblo and the Traditional Academy closing in the 2027-2028 school year.

Meanwhile, Milenio is anticipated to be repurposed as a gifted academy in the 2028-2029 school year. However, school district documents note the anticipated gifted academy could also be opened at any of the closed school locations.

Why is the district recommending school closures?

Dig deeper:

On their website, district officials said they are facing declining enrollments.

"Kyrene is currently serving approximately 12,000 students (and is expected to drop to 11,000 students within the next five years) in a district built for 20,000 students, and resources are stretched thin," read a portion of the website. "Consolidating schools would help to ensure better-resourced schools. It would also avoid other cost-saving options, such as larger class sizes."

Officials listed a number of factors behind the lower student count, stating that declining birth rates, along with the subsequently smaller kindergarten cohorts, are responsible for about 75% of the enrollment loss.

"Additionally, an aging population and a rise in real estate costs limits the number of households with school age children," read a portion of the website. "To a lesser degree, declining enrollment is a result of choice (private schools, charters, microschools, online or home schooling)."

The district, according to its website, has slashed spending by $24 million over the last decade as a result of enrollment decline, but officials asy there is a limit to such opportunities, and that the district "has reached the point where significant changes must be made in order to continue serving students at the same level."

What happens if the district decides not to close schools?

What they're saying:

"If Kyrene does not right-size based on current and future enrollment trends, the district will be forced to make decisions that directly impact the Kyrene experience—such as significant position cuts, larger class sizes, and fewer opportunities for students," read a portion of the district's website.

When will the district decide on the proposal?

What's next:

The district's website clearly states that no decisions on the matter will be made until December 2025, at the earliest.

School district officials also say that six community meetings will be held. They are scheduled as follows:

• 6:00 p.m. on Oct. 16 - Kyrene Middle School
• 6:00 p.m. on Oct. 21 - Akimel A-al Middle School
• 6:00 p.m. on Oct. 29 - Centennial Middle School
• 6:00 p.m. on Nov. 5 - Kyrene del Pueblo Middle School
• 6:00 p.m. on Nov. 12 - Kyrene Altadeña Middle School
• 6:00 p.m. on Nov. 19 - Kyrene Aprende Middle School

How are the parents reacting to the recommendations?

Local perspective:

Some parents within the district are pushing back on the proposed closures.

There was a big crowd during Sept. 2's meeting for Kyrene's governing board, where some parents voiced their opinions on the plan.

"Schools are more than demographics," said one parent. "Schools are heart. They are community. They're our soul. They're worth fighting for."

Are there other Arizona school districts that have closed schools?

In recent years, a number of school districts in Arizona have made the decision to close some of their schools.

Timeline:

In December 2024, we reported on Roosevelt School District's decision to close five of their schools, as they deal with a multi-million-dollar budget deficit. Of the five schools that were closed, the district's website states that one of them (the former Maxine O. Bush Elementary) will reopen as a magnet school in either the 2026-2027 school year, or the school year after that.

The Phoenix Elementary School District closed two of their schools - Paul Laurence Dunbar School and Maie Bartlett Heard Elementary School, at the end of the 2024-2025 school year, with district officials citing declining enrollment, reduced federal funding, and operation of multiple schools below capacity as factors in the closures.

In late February 2025, Cave Creek Unified School District Superintendent Bill Dolezal announced the closure of Lone Mountain Elementary School. The closure took effect at the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

In March 2025, officials with the Isaac School District announced the closure of Moya Elementary and PT Coe Elementary, along with its online prep academy. The district was placed under state receivership in January 2025 due to a financial crisis.

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