Feb 7, 2008 8:03 pm US/Eastern
Money Found To Keep 10 Miami Dade Schools Open
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Thousands of worried parents breathed a collective sigh of relief Thursday after Miami Dade County Public School District officials shelved a plan that would have closed 10 under-enrolled elementary and middle schools.
Some of the happiest parents are those with children at Emerson Middle School, which faced an imminent closure.
"There was a lot of other avenues that they could have explored before they even considered closing a school," said Emerson volunteer Dr. Ana Mercedes Romero.
The plan was first discussed at a School Board workshop at the end of 2007, when the board was asked to come up with a way to cut $240 million from the operating budget over the next four years.
Officials cited low enrollment as one of the reasons for closing the schools, and those buildings would have been used for other operational purposes.
By shutting down a number of under-enrolled schools and consolidating overhead, Board members estimated the district could save $12 million by closing nearly a dozen sites.
The school board will now use construction money to pay for insurance, lightening the budget burden.
When word of the plan was made public, parents protested, especially those from Emerson Elementary--an A-rated school in Westchester. Hundreds of parents held meetings and rallies to protest the school's closing.
Thursday School District Superintendant Rudy Crew told the board they had found more than $9 million in available revenue from the state to keep the schools open.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
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