SALT LAKE CITY — For the third consecutive year, the Utah State Board of Education has released a report showing a statewide decline in student enrollment, a trend that is affecting many families.
The Granite School District, which peaked at approximately 80,000 students in the mid-1990s, now serves around 58,000 students and expects the trend to continue declining until it stabilizes further.
Over the last seven years, the district has already closed 10 schools.
“Due to declining enrollment in our area. We’re a very mature area of Salt Lake Valley,” said Ben Horsley, Superintendent for Granite School District.
This past February, the district initiated a study to consider closing two more campuses: Eastwood Elementary and Morningside Elementary. The news has left parents like Nastasya Mangone, whose child attends Eastwood, feeling “devastated.”
For Mangone, the potential closure is personal.
“I was an alumnus student as well when we found out this last year that our school is being studied for closure due to declining enrollment,” said Mangone.
As a mother of a third-grader, she describes Eastwood as her daughter’s safety net and “a place that has the same magic when I went there that it does now,” said Mangone.
Her concern is the difficulty of finding a comparable institution where staff are as dedicated.
“The teachers care, the teachers not only just care, but they take the time to understand what their kids need,” said Mangone.
Superintendent Horsley acknowledged the emotional impact, but emphasized that the decision was driven by numbers.
“Declining enrollment is primarily contributed to, as the report indicated, from results of COVID and an overall decline in the birth rate in Salt Lake County,” Horsley stated.
The Utah State Board of Education’s latest report noted a drop of more than 11,400 students statewide from the previous year.
Horsley believes economic pressures are a major factor.
“I think the overarching mitigating factor that we’re seeing in this area is the cost of living,” said Horsley.
He explained that the district as a whole saw enrollment decline by about 4.5 percent.
While a final decision on the school closures is not expected until December, the district maintains its focus on adapting to the changing demographics.
“We are here to serve the kids that are actually here in our communities, and the fact is, there are just not as many kids as there used to be,” said Horsley.