Closing Schools. Why

•"Massive inefficiencies are devouring the district's resources. An example: Too many school buildings are serving a small and static population. Some will have to be shuttered to stop the hemorrhaging of two things vital to the district: money and public goodwill."

In a business model, it makes sense to close schools and make more efficent schools. Manhas is a budget guy and he has helped lead Seattle SD out of budget problems but the problem is getting bigger. He is projecting growing deficits if changes aren't made.
By publicizing the growing budget problem, he is setting the political agenda. There will be community concern about closing any schools or changing choice schools in any way. That is for sure. Manhas is setting the stage so that others will have to answer "what else can we do" if not close schools.

Sometimes a superintendent has to share tough, scary projections to help the community and staff move toward the best solutions. I think that Manhas is in a pretty strong position since the Board was unable to hire/find an outside superintendent and it would be a mult-year process and the district needs actions/solutions now. Manhas has built a good fiscal reputation and needs to do the hard work over the next year or so. Tough job.