Many US adults are skipping parenting or having fewer kids – and it’s forcing schools to close

‘There are some high fixed costs to just running a school building. Regardless of how many students are there, it still has to be lit and clean. So that has put many school districts in a financial bind.’ Photograph: Tetra Images/Vstock LLC/Getty Images/VStock RF

At a February board meeting for Memphis-Shelby county schools in Tennessee, a parent of five children who currently or formerly attended Ida B Wells Academy, an alternative education school, asked board members a question.

“This is a high-performing school. This is not a school in crisis,” she said. “So I respectfully ask, why are we considering closing a school that is working?”