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- Title
Excessive rightsizing? The interdependence of public school closures and population shrinkage.
- Authors
Barber, Rachel; Hartt, Maxwell; Collins, Patricia
- Abstract
Shrinking cities have, by definition, lost population. Rightsizing is a strategic planning approach to mitigate the challenges of population loss by adjusting a municipality's services, amenities, or even footprint to fit a new demographic reality. While studies have documented the unacceptability and ineptitude of municipality‐driven rightsizing, public school closures have proliferated and quietly become a noteworthy material manifestation of population change. However, as public schools are widely considered to be a foundational component of community cohesion, identity, and prosperity, it begs the question of whether their closure may accelerate the decline feedback mechanisms already present in many shrinking cities. Our study examines public school closures in Ontario, Canada, from 2011 to 2016 to determine the relationship between municipal population trajectories and size and public school closures, and to explore the prevalence of school closures and the community context in shrinking Ontario municipalities. We find that public school closures occurred disproportionately in shrinking and smaller municipalities. Furthermore, public school closure prevalence is associated with low income, low ethnoracial diversity, and low educational attainment. Key messages: In Ontario, public school closures have disproportionately occurred in shrinking and slow‐growth municipalities.Public school closures in Ontario are most prevalent in municipalities with low demographic diversity, low levels of educational attainment, and high proportions of low‐ income households.Public school closures are found to have a reciprocal relationship with population shrinkage.
- Subjects
ONTARIO; SCHOOL closings; PUBLIC schools; SCHOOL size; CITIES &; towns; STRATEGIC planning; SCHOOL children
- Publication
Canadian Geographer, 2024, Vol 68, Issue 1, p34
- ISSN
0008-3658
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/cag.12870