District 65 Weighs Closing King Arts Magnet School
Board members requested new closure models for the King Arts magnet school and Lincolnwood as enrollment and space concerns resurface.
Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in Secondary Education
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The Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board revived discussion of closing the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Literary and Fine Arts School, requesting models for closing that magnet school alone and alongside Lincolnwood. Interim Superintendent Dr. Eric Witherspoon said the added scenarios did not change the administration's recommendation.
Why it matters
Declining enrollment at King Arts and the opening of Foster School were cited as reasons to reconsider the magnet program. Any closure would reshape where hundreds of Evanston-area students attend school next year.
Closing King Arts alone would affect 443 students, while closing it with Lincolnwood would affect 721 students. Net savings projections were still incomplete, and the outcome for the RISE program serving students with multiple disabilities remains undetermined.
The players
Dr. Eric Witherspoon
Interim Superintendent of the Evanston/Skokie School District 65, who said the added closure scenarios did not change the administration's recommendation.
The details
The board requested models for closing King Arts by itself and for closing it along with Lincolnwood. A single-school closure would send King Arts students back to their home schools and let specialists return to neighborhood buildings, though Nichols could reach 96% to 98% utilization. Over 300 families choose the magnet program, and the RISE program would need to relocate.
Timeline
November 10, 2026: The board revived discussion of closing King Arts.
Big Picture
The discussion follows the consolidation pattern that Illinois districts facing enrollment declines have repeatedly confronted when deciding which facilities to close. Evanston's choice centers on whether a specialized magnet program should bear that burden as neighborhood schools absorb students.
Families whose children attend King Arts or Lincolnwood could be asked to change schools if the board adopts a closure model. Parents of students in the RISE program would need to plan for relocation of that service.
The takeaway
School closure debates turn on trade-offs between program continuity and building utilization, and families affected by these decisions benefit from tracking board agendas as models are finalized.
Further reading
For related coverage, explore Secondary Education in Evanston.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Patch.
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