In the tiny mining town of Goodsprings, a schoolhouse that has been teaching local kids since 1913 is suddenly on the brink. Clark County School District officials are weighing whether to close Goodsprings Elementary, saying the century-old building is simply too expensive to maintain. District staff estimate it would take about $1,000,000 to keep the campus going, even though only two students are enrolled this year and projections show that number could drop to just one next year. As part of a sweeping facilities review, the outpost campus has landed squarely on the chopping block.
According to 8 News Now, CCSD Chief of Facilities Brandon McLaughlin told staff the district is formally recommending closure. He cited 15 years of declining enrollment and the building’s historic designation, which limits large-scale upgrades and drives up costs. The station reports the school currently has three employees; district officials say two already "have plans moving forward," while the remaining custodial worker is getting help to find another position within CCSD.
Historic Status Complicates Repairs
The Goodsprings Schoolhouse is not just old; it is a bona fide historic landmark. Built in 1913, it is one of the oldest Clark County school buildings still used for instruction and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, per the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office. That status helps protect the building’s character but also makes modernizing it a far trickier and pricier endeavor.
SAH Archipedia notes that the school’s original one-room layout and the later additions that grew around it are key to its historical significance. Any substantial renovation has to work around those features, which is part heritage preservation and part logistical headache for a cash-strapped district.
What Closing Would Mean Locally
8 News Now reports that Goodsprings enrolled two students this year and that district projections suggest that number could fall to one for the 2026–27 school year. Keeping the campus open under those conditions would still cost roughly $1,000,000, according to the station.
If trustees sign off on the closure recommendation, students would be rezoned to nearby Sandy Valley School. The district has floated the idea of repurposing the Goodsprings building as a community or historical center, preserving its role as a local landmark even if it no longer serves as an active school. 8 News Now also notes that two of the school’s three staff members are already preparing to move on, while the third, a custodial worker, is being assisted in finding another placement within CCSD.
Part Of A Districtwide Reckoning
Goodsprings is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. The recommendation to close the school is part of CCSD’s districtwide "Building Brighter Futures" facility review, a process that has flagged dozens of campuses for possible consolidation as the district grapples with long-term enrollment losses and tight finances.
NV EdTribune reported that CCSD lost more than 14,000 students between the 2024–25 and 2025–26 school years. On top of that, Fox5 has detailed a roughly $50 million funding shortfall that district leaders say will force cuts across hundreds of schools. Those combined pressures are shaping which campuses CCSD considers sustainable and which may be closed, consolidated or repurposed.
Next Steps For Trustees And The Town
For now, Goodsprings’ fate sits with the CCSD Board of School Trustees. Staff recommendations will go before the board, and any closure would require a formal trustee vote before new zoning lines could be drawn for the 2026–27 school year.
District board minutes show that trustees typically hash out staff proposals, calendars and zoning changes in public meetings, and CCSD says it will look at reuse options that preserve the Goodsprings schoolhouse’s historic character if it is taken out of service as a school. Local residents and preservation advocates are expected to track the process closely as the board refines its draft master plan and decides whether this one-room relic of Nevada’s past will still have a place in the district’s future.
