PALMER — Mat-Su School District officials plan to close three schools as part of an effort to cut costs amid a projected $23 million budget shortfall next year.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District administrators will propose closing Larson and Meadow Lakes Elementary Schools near Wasilla and Glacier View School at the end of the current school year.
An initial announcement issued Monday said three schools were identified for closure but named only Glacier View and Larson because staff at Meadow Lakes had not yet been told about the proposal. A staff meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at Meadow Lakes was moved earlier in the day because of speculation.
Teachers at Glacier View and Larson were notified of the potential closures in a meeting Monday, and an email update was sent to school families Monday afternoon, district spokesman John Notestine said in an interview.
The closure plans must be approved by the Mat-Su School Board.
About 650 students will be affected across the three schools, he said.
If the closures are approved, the district will redraw its boundary maps, and affected students will be assigned to new schools depending on current enrollment at each facility, he said.
Students who attend Larson may be sent to Tanaina, Shaw and Finger Lake elementary schools, while those who attend Meadow Lakes may be reassigned to Knik, Goose Bay, Tanaina or Iditarod elementary schools. About 10 elementary students at Glacier View will be bused more than 40 miles to Sutton Elementary School, and secondary students will be brought to Palmer, district spokesman John Notestine said.
Teachers and most school staff may be reassigned, while some staff, such as custodians, may be let go, officials said.
The schools were selected for closure based on declining enrollment, Notestine said. About 430 students were enrolled at Larson Elementary School in 2019, about 345 were at Meadow Lakes, and 53 were at Glacier View, according to state data. Today, those numbers are 304, 316 and 19, respectively, Notestine said.
The district plans to announce additional program cuts later this week ahead of a budget presentation scheduled for the March 4 school board meeting, Notestine said. The board is expected to vote on the plan during a regular meeting March 18.
If approved by the Mat-Su School Board, the closures are expected to save as much as $4.5 million next year, or $1.5 million per school, district spokesman John Notestine said in an interview Monday.
While operating each school costs substantially more than the expected savings — Larson’s 2025-26 budget is about $4.3 million, for example — closing a school does not recoup its full price tag because students and staff must still be relocated, district officials said during a budget presentation last year.
“If you disperse those students to neighboring schools, those neighboring schools are going to need additional teachers to support those students, additional special education assistance, a special education teacher, those kinds of things,” Assistant Mat-Su Superintendent Katie Gardner said during a Dec. 17 school budget working session. “You’re not able to save the full cost of that elementary school that you might close.”
Officials with a union that represents about 1,000 noncertified district employees said they expect to work with the district on any employee changes resulting from the closures.
“Any staffing changes must follow the negotiated agreement, including seniority and reassignment rights, and we will be directly involved in every step of that process,” Classified Employees’ Association President Rick Morgan said in a statement.
If approved, the buildings will be handed over to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, and the district will no longer be responsible for utilities or upkeep, Gardner said during the December meeting.
Glacier View’s 20,000-square-foot facility was built in 1975 and remodeled in 1995, according to state data. The 54,000-square-foot buildings at Larson and Meadow Lakes elementary schools were constructed in 2001 and 2000.
This story originally appeared in the Mat-Su Sentinel and is republished here with permission.
