Eight City Schools Set to Close Replaced Shuttered Schools: Report

Eight city schools — nearly one-third of those slated for closure by the city's Department of Education — are small schools that were created to replace larger ones that Mayor Bloomberg previously closed, according to a new report from the Independent Budget Office.

"We don't know if this is just a one-year anomaly, or if this is just the first wave of these new small schools to fail, so on that one we're saying time will tell, but it's an issue worth following in future years," said Ray Domanico, IBO's Director of Education Research.

Domanico said the study compared 25 schools on the city's closure list to the rest of the city's, and found that their students are performing below average. But the report also finds that those schools are serving students with greater needs, including a higher population of special education students.