The Kyrene School District is considering merging its dual language schools and/or creating a gifted academy as enrollment numbers drop.
The district was built to serve about 20,000 students, but enrollment is expected to drop to 11,000 or 12,000 students over the next five years, resulting in a projected $7 million funding loss.
Superintendent Laura Toenjes said the district’s two K-5 dual language academies are projected to have fewer sections per grade level, which isn’t ideal for instruction.
“Having so few sections just really puts some limitation on collaboration, it also creates challenges in delivering a robust dual language experience," Toenjes said.
She said that makes it difficult to balance class sizes as well, which is why they’re thinking about consolidating the two schools into one.
Kyrene is also seeing a high demand for gifted programs and losing some students to other districts with more options.
“We’ve lost approximately 1,000 students to these programs," Toenjes said. "So it’s a significant number of students we’re losing because we clearly don’t have that opportunity here in our district.”
The options are part of a larger discussion of long range planning in Kyrene, but the Long Range Planning Committee has not yet brought a formal recommendation to the board. A tentative timeline sets the board's vote for Dec. 16.
