On March 11, 2026, an email and video were sent out to the OPS community, featuring Superintendent Brent Yeager to explain several issues addressed by the Board of Education. The main concerns are over the district’s shrinking budget and consolidation of schools in response.
Enrollment all over the district and all over the nation has been dropping. In Olathe, a head count of just over 30,000 a few years ago has decreased to about 28,000. This is caused by declining birthrates all around the nation, and additional problems with housing costs forcing families to move.
Because of fewer students, the district is receiving fewer budget resources from the State of Kansas. Another issue is Special Education being underfunded, even though schools are federally required to provide it. To compensate for this, 44 million dollars had to be transferred from the General Education Budget to the Special Education fund in 2025. This can affect staff compensation, building maintenance, and innovative programs for students.
The Olathe School District has 36 elementary schools, 10 middle schools, five high schools, and many special education buildings. These were built in the notion that enrollment would continue to grow. Now, with less students, the Board has proposed consolidating schools to maximize resources and budgets.
“We must align our district for the number of students we have today,” Dr. Yeager said in his video addressed to Olathe families.
Four elementary schools have already been selected for consolidation. Fairview and Northview elementary schools will combine in a newly constructed school on the current Northview location, and Central and Ridgeview elementary schools will do the same on the current Central site.
As of now, no other schools have been chosen for consolidation, but a newly created taskforce made of a staff and parent from each school and additional resources will examine all the schools and determine what schools, if any, would be a candidate for consolidation. Dr. Yeager said that he did not expect high schools to be affected. Staff could expect possibly being relocated to other buildings and departments.
After reviewing the reports from this taskforce and a steering committee, the district hopes to have all decisions voted on by next January.
