Throughout the 2024-2025 school year, the Pittsburgh Public School District has gone back and forth between possible plans regarding school closures and reconfigurations. Starting in August, a plan was made to consider the closure and restructuring of around 30 schools across the district. However, in November, there was pushback on the proposed changes, with the district claiming no changes would occur for the 2025-2026 school year. Despite this, in February, the district threw its support behind a new school closure plan, which was a significant push towards the possibility of moving the plan forward.

This newly supported plan, which the district is calling the “Facilities Utilization Plan”, calls for the closure of 14 schools and the reconfiguration of 12 other schools. However, with recent pushback from parents, the district has delayed the closure of some of those schools.

With a lot of information still up in the air and the district’s support so back and forth, people within PPS have voiced concerns regarding the uncertainty about the district's future. Sophomore Joyce Kim asks, “What will happen to the kids that are forced to move schools?” She expressed her concerns for students who could be caught in the crossfire of school closures and changes.

The need for a change in the district's layout comes from a large decline in enrollment in certain schools and continued budgeting issues. Only 18 of the district’s 54 schools saw an increase in enrollment for the 2023-2024 school year. So even though certain schools had growth, there was still a general decline in enrollment across the district.

Some of these enrollment issues could be attributed to the increase in new forms of learning, such as online school or homeschooling. These styles of learning were popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a significant impact on families exploring different educational approaches, particularly for younger students.

Although the 2024 school year saw a surprising increase in revenue, school directors passed a 2025 budget featuring a $28.1 million deficit. The proposed school closure plan could significantly impact this deficit. In previous years, the implementation of similar plans has had varied results for district revenue. For example, in 2006, with the “Right Sizing Plan,” 21 schools were closed, creating a $7.6 million deficit. This also resulted in the loss of hundreds of staffing positions, which was an issue seen throughout every other previous PPS school closure plan.

Another factor that could contribute to this situation is the impact of Trump’s administration on the education system. This creates even more unpredictability as threats of cuts to the Department of Education could impact budgets for different departments and programs within the district. Regarding this, math teacher Mr. Pacheco says, “Who knows?” He explains that with so much uncertainty, it is hard to tell if such changes will be good or bad for the district.

Due to concerns voiced at press conferences and new data reports, the district put out a final update to the plan on May 21, 2025. It now calls for the closure of only 12 schools in 9 buildings. This removed Schiller 6-8 and Roosevelt K-5 from the list of schools to be closed. The plan also includes updates on issues such as feeder patterns, schools’ access to facilities such as air conditioning, and new academic programs that have a stronger focus on subjects such as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).

While a lot of money will be invested into new programs and renovations, this plan is projected to create a cost avoidance of $102.8 million over the next 7 years. The document says it will use the money saved from closing buildings and decreased transportation costs to improve other schools and pay off debts.

The plan will be slowly implemented throughout the next 7 years, which leaves a lot of time for revisions and additions to certain programs. However, all and all, many PPS officials seem confident in this update, hoping it can provide more opportunities for students across the district.