HAYWARD (KRON) — Parents at a Hayward elementary school are worried that their district will close their school and transfer their kids as part of a plan to meet next year’s budget.

Bidwell Elementary School on Fairway Street in Hayward is where parents are worried. At this point, the school district is exploring different ideas to help with their budget.

Even though nothing is for sure at Bidwell, parents are on edge.

Their school could be the first one closed if the district needs to consolidate.

Ericka Novaro has a second-grader at Bidwell.

She is one of the many parents KRON4 spoke with who has heard the school district is exploring different ideas to help with next year’s budget. One of those ideas they heard about was the district consolidating schools, which could lead to the possibility of Bidwell being shut down.

Bidwell has fewer students than some other nearby schools but Ericka says that is one of the things that makes it great.

The Hayward School District is facing a tough budget next year due to growing retirement contribution rates.

There will likely have to be cuts made somewhere. They are looking at all possibilities, including staffing, salaries, supplies, and special programs.

But no decisions have been made yet.

Here is a statement from the district:

“The Hayward Unified School District is proactively exploring strategies to maintain a balanced budget in light of growing retirement contribution rates. In an effort to encourage stakeholder input throughout this process, we are having conversations with our school communities. We are in the exploratory phase of this process and no formal recommendations have been made regarding our facilities. Our priority is to provide the greatest level of service to students and families while meeting our fiduciary duties.”

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