Our town in CA was incorporated in 1954 and built about twelve schools in less than ten years to serve the post-war baby boom. When the last of those kids graduated around 1975 and enrollment plummeted, the city shut down three schools and sold the buildings and land. It was easy to do forty years ago.
Stupid decision, though. The old folks began dying or downsizing, young families moved in and the city didn’t have enough schools to serve the “boomer echo.” The city has been discussing a tenth school site for over TWENTY years now. Of course, land prices in Silicon Valley soared and they can’t buy anything for less than 25 times what they sold the old surplus land for.
It’s a colossal fuster-cluck.
Good summary.
My area, a suburb of Charlotte, NC, has been on a school-building boom for about 15 years. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. In my opinion, one issue will be that the current schools are building built near expensive subdivisions. If the next generation can’t afford to buy those houses at a premium, then the upcoming student population will be located in apartment complexes and trailer parks way east of today’s new schools.
It’s all, “Pass the popcorn,” for me: we’ve been homeschooling since 1995.