Columbus City Schools is weighing a broad set of school closures, mergers and building changes as it confronts another round of budget reductions, with proposals that could reshape campuses across the district beginning in the 2027-28 school year. District officials presented the options Oct. 12 at a community town hall at Fort Hayes Performing Arts Theatre. The proposals also include changes for 2028-29, and officials emphasized that none is final. More discussion is planned at school meetings and during Board of Education committee and full-board meetings through October, November and December. The Board of Education has directed administrators to identify at least $50 million in operating cuts for the coming school year. The district has already reduced spending by about $67.5 million between 2025 and 2027, including cuts to staffing and administrative costs, non-personnel spending, transportation and school operations. For the past two years, CCS has used financial reserves to pay routine expenses. Officials say those reserves are declining and could be depleted by 2030 without further reductions. Superintendent and CEO Angela Chapman said the district is facing a second $50 million round of cuts after identifying the first. The proposed building changes would not cover the entire shortfall. CCS estimates strategic facility changes could save about $12.9 million in the 2028 budget, with another $6.5 million in savings projected for 2029. A possible reduction in high-school transportation could save an estimated $6.5 million. Even with those measures, officials say more than $30 million in additional reductions would still be needed, and staff will review every department. The district says it has 109 academic facilities with capacity for about 57,000 students, while current enrollment is 44,056. That leaves roughly 13,000 seats unused, and districtwide building utilization at about 77%. Chief of Strategy and Performance Russell Brown said the goal is to use buildings more efficiently and concentrate programs and resources, while maintaining student services. For 2027-28, CCS is proposing to close Columbus City Preparatory School for Girls and Columbus City Preparatory School for Boys as operating schools. Columbus Gifted Academy would move into the Franklin Middle School building, and Adult & Community Education and the district Support Center would move into the Eastmoor Middle School building. The district estimates those changes would save about $4.1 million. Another proposal would merge the Duxberry Park Arts Impact Elementary program into Sullivant Elementary, adjust the Sullivant and Avondale attendance boundaries and close the Duxberry building. CCS estimates the building closure would save about $1.2 million. District leaders say a longer-term goal is to develop a prekindergarten-through-grade-12 arts program at Fort Hayes, which would require future construction. The district is also considering closing Siebert Elementary and sending students to Stewart, Southwood and other South Side elementary schools. CCS said fewer than 50 students live in the Siebert neighborhood and fewer than 20 of them attend the school. The proposal would require Board of Education approval. Under another plan, Highland Elementary would stop operating as a school, with students moving to West Mound and Burroughs elementary schools. The district says Highland is 60.2% utilized and dates to 1895. The building would then temporarily house West Broad Elementary students while a new West Broad school is built. Proposals for 2028-29 include moving Columbus Alternative High School from the McGuffey facility to Columbus Downtown High School. District officials say the move would place students in a newer building and bring more career-focused programs into the district’s academy model. CCS estimates savings of about $3.3 million. On the South Side, Buckeye Middle School students and South Side sixth-graders could move to a middle school at the current South High School building. South High and Marion-Franklin High School would combine at the Marion-Franklin site. The district says that arrangement would allow students to use the campus while a new South Side high school is built there, a project identified in its 2022 facilities plan. The changes are estimated to save about $3.2 million. At Mifflin, the district proposes closing the current middle school building and converting the Mifflin High School building into a middle school for grades six through eight, including students in the Area STEM program at those grade levels. CCS estimates savings of about $3.7 million. Officials describe the current middle school as being in poor condition and underused, and say the area has more than 1,000 excess high-school seats even as the district identifies a need for a future North Side high school. A district summary of its wider facilities strategy lists 12 buildings for closure: Broadleigh, Moler, Fairwood, Como, Duxberry, Everett, McGuffey, Buckeye, Mifflin Middle, Siebert, Lexington and the East Sixth Street Annex. The list combines earlier realignment decisions with changes still under consideration; it does not mean the district has newly proposed closing all 12. The plan also identifies seven schools for refreshment or repurposing and three future school projects: new West Broad Elementary, a new South Side high school and a new North Side high school. Transportation is another focus. CCS says it routes more than 32,000 students daily, employs 375 drivers, contracts for about 60 additional buses and covers roughly 39,000 miles a day. The district budgets about $70 million annually for transportation. One option would reduce district-provided transportation for most high-school students, which officials estimate could save $6.5 million and reduce transportation-related noncompliance fines for grades nine through 12. Board President Antoinette Miranda said the decisions will affect students, families, educators and the wider community, and acknowledged that residents may not agree on every proposal. Chapman said the district intends to make changes rather than wait for its finances to improve, while Brown cautioned residents not to mistake proposals presented at the town hall for final board votes. CCS says it will gather feedback through board and committee meetings, focus groups, smaller meetings, surveys and conversations with students before decisions are made.