Recommendations
OUSD is at a pivotal moment that requires the district to evaluate its school portfolio holistically, rather than school by school. Declining enrollment, a growing number of small and underutilized campuses, inequitable access to high-quality programs, fiscal constraints, and rising operating and maintenance costs are creating structural challenges that cannot be solved through incremental repairs alone. These pressures are interconnected, and addressing them effectively requires a system-level strategy that aligns facilities, enrollment, programming, and community priorities.
As the district considers its long-term sustainability, re-envisioning and restructuring the school portfolio should be part of the conversation. This begins not with buildings, but with how OUSD can best serve students and families with the resources available. In many cases, the current configuration of numerous small schools limits distribution and access to high-quality programs, strains staffing models, and creates inequities in access to arts, athletics, advanced coursework, student support services as well as other community school services.
Within this context, transformational investments become a strategic tool for re-envisioning and restructuring, not simply a response to aging facilities. Major capital projects can be used to replace multiple small or aging campuses with modern, rightsized schools designed to support comprehensive programming, operational efficiency, and long-term fiscal sustainability.
As a guiding target, OUSD should seek opportunities to create schools approaching 600 students, a scale that allows for:
• Robust academic and enrichment programs
• Sustainable staffing and leadership structures
• Efficient operations and lower per-pupil costs
• Greater scheduling flexibility
• Stronger student support services
• Increased community use and shared resources
