Report recommends consolidating Olympia schools. Will the district consider it?
A new report from a consultant hired by the Olympia School District recommended consolidating some schools due to low enrollment rates and not enough buildings being used to their full capacity.
The OSD board of directors is set to discuss the report at 6:30 p.m. May 28. The report was conducted by BERK Consulting, a Seattle based business management firm, and it was released May 22.
District spokesperson Conor Schober told The Olympian on May 28 that there will be additional discussion about potential next steps at the June 18 board meeting. He said the district hasn’t received the final invoice for BERK Consulting’s services.
“Our focus this year is on making thoughtful, targeted reductions while continuing to support strong educational experiences for students,” he said. “The boundary review process is one step in the district’s broader work to better understand enrollment trends, facility utilization, state funding and long-term financial sustainability.”
According to the report, titled “Olympia School District Attendance Area Boundary Study,” the district hired BERK Consulting to analyze OSD’s attendance area boundaries, enrollment trends, demographics, and building capacity and use.
“The purpose of the analysis was to identify potential revisions to the current attendance area boundaries that could enable more efficient delivery of education services, promote more financially sustainable operation of school facilities, or rebalance student attendance in line with recent enrollment forecasts and demographic trends,” according to the report.
According to the report, the State of Washington and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction do not have guidelines for what makes an optimal level of school use. The consultant instead reviewed standards in other states and came up with a target of 80% to 90% use for elementary schools and 75% to 85% for middle and high schools.
OSD’s goal is to use 80% of the space in its middle and high schools, according to the district’s Long Range Facility Master Plan. The report used that 80% utilization rate as a target for all Olympia schools.
According to the report, only one elementary school has hit that target: Lincoln Options Elementary School is at 92%. All 10 other elementary schools use less than 70% of their space, with Hansen at 41%, McKenny at 46% and Garfield at 49%.
These numbers are based on March 2026 enrollment data, according to the report.
Washington Middle School was at 86% use, while Marshall was at 76%, Reeves at 67% and Jefferson at 62%.
Olympia High School was at 95%, while Capital was at 75% and Avanti was at 58%.
Only three Olympia schools, Lincoln Elementary, Washington Middle School and Olympia High School, hit the 80% mark, according to the report, and the overall use rate was 71%.
According to the report, realigning boundaries for which school students go to in the district could balance out enrollment between buildings. But that could exacerbate the use-of-space issue at some buildings.
“The district currently has a surplus of capacity at the elementary and middle school levels and a deficit of capacity at the high school level,” according to the report.
According to the report, the district’s enrollment is projected to decline 1% per year over the next eight years, which is equal to the loss of 900 students by the 2033-2034 school year. That enrollment decline is expected to hit elementary schools the hardest.
Another recommendation in the report was to review district policy on in-district transfers. According to the report, the district could consider revising its policies to direct more students to the schools that serve the attendance areas in which they live, which could benefit boundary revisions.
Lastly, the consultant recommended consolidation of schools. According to the report, many of the district’s schools are underused, and declining enrollment is expected to exacerbate the issue. The report did not suggest specific schools to consolidate.
The report states that school consolidation was not within the scope of the boundary analysis. However, it states that “assigning students to a smaller number of schools could potentially address facility utilization concerns and allow for more efficient delivery of services to students.”
The report states that the district has studied this option as part of previous facility planning efforts and could do so again. Schober told The Olympian on May 28 that consolidation is not part of the current budget plan.
When asked if consolidation could be on the table for the next school year’s budget cycle and decision-making process, Schober said, “As we move forward, the district will continue to review this information carefully and consider what steps may be needed over time to maintain strong educational experiences for students.”
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