School Closures

The Kansas City (MO) district is closing nearly half of the schools in the district:

The Kansas City school board narrowly approved a plan Wednesday night to close nearly half the district's schools in a desperate bid to avoid a potential bankruptcy.

The board voted 5-4 after parents and community leaders made final pleas to spare the schools even as the beleaguered district seeks to erase a projected $50 million budget shortfall. The approved plan calls for shuttering 29 of 61 schools — a striking amount even as public school closures rise nationwide while the recession eats away at academic budgets.

But many big districts are closing only one or two schools. Detroit closed 29 schools before classes began this fall, but that still left the district with 172 schools.