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SLO County school district picks up process to sell two of its campuses

Downtown San Luis Obispo.
Aidan Dillon.
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Aidan Dillon
Downtown San Luis Obispo.

A Central Coast school district is seeking to sell two of its campuses. The sites were shut down in 2002 due to budget reductions and declining enrollment.

According to San Luis Coastal Unified School District, the aging sites in Morro Bay and Los Osos are now being leased by a few smaller schools and even a fire station. Modernizing the campuses would cost the district 20-30 million dollars, according to a master plan updated in 2022.

“It's not a financially prudent thing for the district to continue to lease the sites and put tens of millions of dollars into those properties. That would not be a good use of public funds,” said Ryan Pinkerton, an assistant superintendent with the district.

Pinkerton also said even if enrollment suddenly increases, the district would still have space for its students.

“I mean even today, the Delmar Elementary School, our current elementary school that's running—I think when I first started here 15 years ago, we had over 500 students at that campus. They currently have about 225,” Pinkerton said.

The sites are not for sale yet. First, the district has to go through a process to declare the sites as surplus, then it will need to reach out to public agencies that are interested in purchasing the properties. That’s a process that can take at least 120 days, said Pinkerton, then the sites will be listed for sale.

So far, the district is in talks with the City of Morro Bay over the Morro Elementary site and reached out to the County of San Luis Obispo over the Sunnyside Elementary site in Los Osos.

Gabriela Fernandez came to KCBX in May of 2022 as a general assignment reporter, and became news director in December of 2023. In September of 2024 she returned to reporting full time.