Salem-Keizer proposed closing up to eight elementary schools ahead of the 2027–28 school year because of a sharp drop in student enrollment and associated budget pressures. On October 9, 2026, director of communications, Aaron Harada, released a specific list of the elementary schools recommended for closure. Instead of eight, the number was lowered down to six. Brush College, Candalria, Cummings, Englewood, Liberty and Richmond. Out of a 100, 95% of all district students will remain unaffected by potential school reassignments. That leaves the other 5% affected by this proposal through a combination of both the closures and the boundary changes. 5% of students is a little over 2,000 Salem-Keizer students.
School district structures depend heavily on whether a district is rural, suburban or urban. While a small rural district might have only one elementary school, major urban or large suburban districts can operate 40 to over 100 elementary schools under one administrative umbrella. For over 10 years, Salem-Keizer school district had 42 elementary schools.
Respect for the Schools and Families
“We are taking thoughtful, measured action to protect our schools, students and future, but it is so difficult because protecting our conditions for the future means making incredibly hard choices now,” said Salem-Keizer Public Schools Superintendent Andrea Castañeda. “We can not change the fundamental facts that require this action, but we can build the best possible path toward solutions and sustainability,” Castañeda said in the embargo.
Castañeda acknowledges the weight there is to closing a school.
“I just do not think there is such a thing as a good proposal to close schools. But the best we can do and the really respectful effort we have made in light of this painful topic is to bring something that is really thoughtful, balanced and measured,” Castañeda said in a Zoom media briefing.
The facilities chosen for the closure are very near the end of their practical life as educational facilities. With the closures, Salem-Keizer will be saving at least 15 million dollars in tax-funded maintenance costs. Another feature regarding this proposal is that Salem-Keizer will be centering equity in all their analysis and decision-making. The package as a whole does not place a disproportionate burden on the students, families and communities that are traditionally marginalized and underserved.
Dual Language Programming
For families that are impacted by boundary changes, they will have the ability to enroll in dual language programming. This should expand dual language programming access by increasing the number of neighborhood schools that are dual language schools. 100% of students currently enrolled in Dual Language programs will retain access, with neighborhood program access expanding for more than 250 students.
“One of the things that I have observed lately is that when a district feels the need to act, and the action the district feels the need to take is painful to the community, it just creates this emotional collision,” Castañeda said, “I do not think those feelings should have to compete with one another. I actually think it is our job to create space to recognize how deeply painful, upsetting and threatening these kinds of changes are. That is exactly what we are gonna do.”
Improvement of Academics
Something really important is that Salem-Keizer is making academic progress. Salem-Keizer has shown an increase in state testing results in both English and math. Across all grades, 34.5% of students tested proficient, which means students are demonstrating they have grade-level knowledge or higher. In math, about a quarter of Salem-Keizer students were proficient in math.
Salem-Keizer is trying to protect the gains that made this academic process possible. Salem-Keizer has had two straight years of academic gain. In the future, fully enrolled schools will have fewer staff members who are split between schools. They will also have fewer blended grads (when there is a classroom that teaches two grades at the same time) and more staff stability for teaching and learning.
“It is our job to protect those conditions that allowed us to get our students to get us there. We need to begin shifting towards fewer more fully enrolled schools that we can staff well,” Deputy Superintendent of Elementary Education Olga Cobb said.
Declining Enrollment
Salem-Keizer is about five years into a ten-year pattern of declining enrollment. Small elementary schools will get even smaller while there are more of them. There would have to be a reduction of staffing and support to those smaller schools because Salem-Keizer will no longer be able to afford them. Since July, Salem-Keizer has been talking with neighborhood associations, staff, parents, faith leaders and community leaders. There is great stress surrounding these Salem-Keizer elementary families.
“Part of which I wish to share to our whole community is just to tell you with as much genuine empathy as possible that we are so sorry that is happening to you,” Castañeda said.
“We are bringing a proposal that is upsetting. If there were a way to avoid this, we absolutely would. We just see no path to avoiding it because the context around us is bigger than any of us. We would have to reverse the declining birth rate in order to change this,” Castañeda said.
Support for the Impact Communities
Over the next 10 days, there will be many sessions. These sessions are designed to be pretty intimate. The executive team and board will be there. At these sessions, there is a plan to sit and listen to the Salem-Keizer communities comments and answer their questions. They will not be behind a screen or stage, they will just be sitting with the community, being as responsive as they can. This will start the path from here to December, where the board will ultimately take action.
Salem-Keizer has been very clear that student enrollment has begun to decline and is continuing to decline. There will be future discussions of other closures. Not next year, but more so down the road. In the very near future, Salem-Keizer will need to talk more about additional closures as well as moving to the secondary level. In aggregate, this proposal impacts a proportionately significantly lower number of students of color when compared to Salem-Keizer’s district average for elementary. It is about proportionate for special education and for English-language learners.
Matching the Title I Schools
Two out of the six schools on the list for closure are Title I schools, and Salem-Keizer will be feeding students into other schools with the same level of resources. For example, if students are in special education programs, they will have the opportunity to continue in their programs. 100% of students retain access to special education classrooms. This has been a priority from the beginning. Making sure students have continuity in services and that if students are supported through additional services, the new schools will have similar or better resources.
Salem-Keizer’s boundary process is a community process that includes an advisory committee. Salem-Keizer and the advisory committee will work together with the community. The final decisions on boundaries will be in February. They will be working on those in parallel with the community discussion on closure, and will have solid information in December. They are doing their best with the proposal to minimize the disruption of the students. In a couple of the schools, there will be some dividing, especially those in large sections.
Staff Members/Schools Affected
Through the closure proposal, there are roughly 250 staff members that are being affected. Salem-Keizer is working with the staff affected right now to make sure they have as much clarity as they need about what comes next. With the associations, they have partnered together to craft an offer for staff preference placement. There will not be any clear answers for staff on where they will end up until the spring. From now until then, Castañeda aims to prioritize their experience.
They plan to keep the empty buildings up for the communities surrounding the schools. They will continue to maintain the outside of the buildings to make them look presentable and have maintenance cleaning the inside. The buildings will stay up and could be used for future purposes.
Families, students and staff will be made aware of the closures and will find out placements in the spring.
“I just do not think there is such a thing as a good proposal to close schools. But the best we can do and the really respectful effort we have made in light of this painful topic is to bring something that is really thoughtful, balanced and measured,” Castañeda said.
