Paxton Community Nursery School to close after 2025-26 school year

PAXTON, Ill. (WAND) — The Paxton Community Nursery School will close at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

School Board President Sam Magers announced the closure on the school's Facebook page Friday, saying declining enrollment and financial issues have hit the school hard.

"About 10 years ago, our enrollment began to decline. We saw an uptick in students being sent to other preschools in the area — schools that were not in existence when PCNS began," Magers said in the Facebook post. "Then, COVID — this took our numbers down even more — with the afternoon classes being hit the hardest, and overall enrollment numbers falling into the 40's."

According to the school, registration has steadily declined 20-30% year to year. Magers said low registration means fewer families helping with fundraising, fewer board members willing to serve, and less overall support from the community.

"Enrollment for 2026-2027 was low, we have had unforeseen, catastrophic challenges that have prevented us from having class consistently in the current spring semester, and our budget deficit was predicted to be nearly triple what it was for the current enrollment year," Magers said. "None of it could have been predicted, and the situation was not ideal."

Magers said the school plans to close out the 2025-26 school year as planned.