The school is the 17th the district has closed over the past three years as it struggles against declining enrollment.
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Get our free newsletters in your inbox three times a week.As its latest cost-cutting effort, the San Antonio Independent School District’s board voted Monday night to permanently close Rhodes Middle School at the end of the 2025-2026 school year, the Express-News reports. The shuttering of the historic West Side campus is the district’s 17th closure over the past three years, according to the daily. In common with other inner-city districts, SAISD is grappling with rising costs along with enrollment declines due to lower birthrates and rising competition from charter schools and private campuses. Parents and activists have accused SAISD of not seeking community feedback as it targets schools for closure. They have also lamented the lack of warning the district has offered when campuses are scheduled to shut down. Those concerns were reflected in Monday’s split vote by the board. Two of the seven trustees voted against the closure decision. “What we are seeing is not new. It’s a pattern, a pattern of decisions made without families, and families are paying the price,” West Side education activist Maribel Gardea told the Express-News. “Schools do not fail on their own. The leadership does.”Rhodes has received failing grades from the Texas Education Agency for three consecutive school years, according to the Express-News, and district officials said the campus was headed toward its fourth. Under Texas law, if a campus receives five consecutive F ratings, it must be shut down or the state can initiate a takeover of the entire district, replacing elected board members. Students originally zoned to attend Rhodes will now be enrolled in Tafolla Middle School, according to SAISD officials. However, rules allow students to enroll at any school within the district that fits their grade level. On Monday, the board also approved a partnership with Colorado-based charter school network Third Future Schools to help operated Tafolla along with Hirsch and Ogden elementary schools, according to the daily.Since 1986, the SA Current has served as the free, independent voice of San Antonio, and we want to keep it that way. Becoming an SA Current Supporter for as little as $5 a month allows us to continue offering readers access to our coverage of local news, food, nightlife, events, and culture with no paywalls.Ideally, district leadership wants to whittle its number of campuses down to 50 from its current level of 84, the. However, that appears unlikely since most of its schools now in operation aren’t large enough to house the influx of students from shuttered campuses. Critics also worry the state’s newly enacted voucher program, which gives tax dollars to parents interested in sending their kids to private campuses will accelerate the damage to already struggling public school districts.San Antonio school districts stand to lose $100 million in state and local funding under the state’s Republican-backed voucher system.Aquino oversaw the district’s controversial efforts to close underperforming schools as it grappled with budget deficits and slipping enrollment.San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Ashley Pardo, 33, is the first person in Bexar County ever to be charged with terrorism.sanfordnowlin@gmail.com Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...
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