This debate arose in the past, but died shortly thereafter. Recently, it has taken flight again. This time the proposed closure of Novato schools would happen in 2011-2012. Decisions will be made in December.

To me, the savings of $100,000 to $200,000 per school does not make a measurable impact to the overall district deficit of $2.7 million in Novato’s $55 million budget.  However, there are a few changes that could positively impact savings:

• Increase in class sizes
• Unused buildings could be used for other purposes
• The creation of larger schools allows the district to take advantage of the “schools within schools” program, where smaller schools are created within larger schools for a specific purpose. 

I hope to see some clearly quantified figures before such final decisions are made, as they will impact local neighborhoods, area desirability and property values.

Everyone who lives near a school with or without children will be affected!

1. Neighborhood desirability affecting property values reduces for two reasons: Changes in school district lines
2. Changes to traffic flow within those neighborhoods

First, redrawing of school district lines definitely affect property values.  For example, if a school gets closed, the school district lines will be redrawn. Then desirability for those neighborhoods near the closed school decreases as people typically chose that neighborhood based on either being close to a particular school or within a particular school district. Families who once based their job and lifestyle routines around attending one particular school will now be driving much further to a different school. This increases their drive time, gas costs and changes their morning routine. It may not sound at much at first, but it can easily add 20 minutes to an already early morning, especially when you have children at two different grade levels at two different schools.

Second, an increase in traffic flow over and above standard traffic affects property values for homeowners with or without children.  When a school is built, it is designed for a certain level of traffic flow, just as the local streets are designed to handle a certain level of traffic. Now you will be doubling that traffic congestion near the school where the students have been transferred to.  The streets may not be able to handle it the increase in traffic, causing a lot of turmoil for those who live nearby. Also, the neighbors who live near this overly busy school cannot properly leave their house as they could before, and thus desirability for that location will reduced because no one will want to fight the traffic. The only way to mitigate this issue is by improving the roads and walkways which cost money.

In the end, everyone with or without children will suffer through school closures, and the short term costs saved do not outweigh the lost socio-economic benefits.