Long Beach Unified says it expects to close Gompers Elementary in Lakewood and Edison Elementary in downtown Long Beach at the end of the 2026-27 school year, citing persistent underenrollment at both campuses. The proposal still needs approval from the LBUSD Board of Education, which is scheduled to hear it as an information item next Wednesday, Oct. 7, with a vote expected two weeks later on Oct. 21.
The district disclosed the closure plans as its overall enrollment has slipped below 60,000 students for the first time since the early 1980s, according to the Long Beach Post. Both Gompers and Edison are underenrolled, and the district says it expects to close them because their current enrollment no longer supports keeping the campuses open.
Should the board approve the closures, Gompers' attendance boundary would be consolidated with three nearby Lakewood schools — Cleveland, Holmes and MacArthur elementary — according to a district letter cited in the same report. Edison students, meanwhile, would be reassigned to Chavez and Oropeza elementary schools, both within a mile of Edison's downtown campus. Families who want to choose a different school altogether would get priority placement in the district's school choice process.
Parents Caught Off Guard After Recent Remodel
The news has landed hard at Gompers, which underwent a significant remodel just last year that included a new HVAC system, fresh paint and new playground equipment. Ashlee Napalan, an LBUSD teacher and parent of three children at Gompers, described the closure news as heartbreaking and surprising, the Post reported.
Gompers parents have organized opposition to the proposed closure, and a petition to keep the school open had gathered more than 600 signatures within a single day. Parents from both Gompers and Edison plan to speak at Wednesday's school board meeting, and the district says it has invited families at each school to informational meetings over the coming month.
Juan Benitez, the board member whose district includes Edison, said the recommendation is not being taken lightly and that he and the district will listen to students' and families' concerns. Benitez is pushing for what he described as ongoing, constant, clear responsive communication with affected families as the process moves forward.
What Happens to Staff and the Buildings
Teachers on permanent contracts at Gompers and Edison would keep their jobs in the district and receive precedence in school reassignments, though they may not learn their new school sites until April. The Child Development Center housed at Edison is expected to remain there for at least the next several years regardless of the elementary school's closure.
The two campuses themselves wouldn't necessarily sit empty. Edison may be used as a temporary site while other schools undergo modernization projects, and the district says additional uses will be proposed for the Gompers building.
A District Shrinking for Two Decades
The proposed closures follow a long slide in LBUSD enrollment. The district has typically lost 1.5% to 2% of its students each year over the past two decades, after once enrolling nearly 100,000 students, according to the Long Beach Business Journal. Enrollment stood at just below 64,400 as of Sept. 8, 2023, about 1,200 fewer students than the year before, and the district has lost roughly a third of its students over 15 years — including 10,000 since 2020, per EdSource.
District officials have pointed to cost-of-living and housing pressures as major drivers of the decline, the Business Journal reported. Benitez said low birth rates will continue pushing enrollment down as well.
Hoover Middle School closed last year due to low enrollment, and Keller Elementary was previously closed for the same reason before reopening as a middle school supporting dual-immersion programs, the Business Journal noted. What is now McBride High School was previously DeMille Middle School, and Sato High School was previously Hill Middle School — part of a pattern of repurposing shuttered campuses rather than leaving them vacant.
Budget Pressure Compounds the Problem
The enrollment drop isn't the district's only fiscal headache. LBUSD expects to draw nearly $45 million from its reserves this school year, marking its third consecutive year of deficit spending as operating costs continue to exceed revenue. The district must cut its budget by at least $40 million for the coming school year because of declining enrollment and lower state and federal funding, EdSource reported, and staff warned the board back on March 18 that the shortfall could balloon to $122 million by 2028.
LBUSD has already reduced library support, mental health resources, and certificated and classified staff, and both the district and the school board have signaled that more difficult cuts are forthcoming. For now, the fate of Gompers and Edison rests with the board's Oct. 21 vote — and the families fighting to keep both campuses open in the meantime.
