DWINDLING state revenue has the Department of Education moving on two tracks toward closing schools with declining enrollments. Both need to be pursued to reduce costs and to allow the department an efficient system by which to react nimbly to shifts in student populations.

Earlier this month, the Board of Education began reviewing a proposal to give the schools superintendent the authority to examine closings and mergers of campuses. The plan would replace current procedures tied to a complicated formula of classroom vacancies, repair needs and other factors, and which are initiated by complex area superintendents.

These procedures clearly haven't been effective. Though there are existing conditions that should have triggered closings, no schools have been shuttered in nearly 30 years, largely due to political resistance and community objections, neither of which complex area officials are eager to invite.

However, if educational resources and funding are to be used prudently—as the public constantly demands—the superintendent must be given the authority to take action.

While the board considers the proposal, state schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto also has directed complex area superintendents to take a look at closing schools under the current procedure.

They are to review benefits and disadvantages of closing three sets of campuses, conduct public hearings and make recommendations. Schools in the first target group include Wailupe Valley Elementary where just 78 students, less than a third of the school's capacity, are enrolled. Others are similarly below capacity.

Arguments can be made for retaining small schools, but closing some of them likely would result in improved facilities. As matters now stand, the department has been hard-pressed to catch up with campus repairs that have increased from $341 million in 2006 to $412 million this year. In addition, teachers, education specialists and support staff would be more efficiently assigned if campuses were consolidated.

By freeing funding, schools where enrollment exceeds capacity could be expanded. Department leaders and the school board also should be looking for ways to accommodate growing student populations, other than building more classrooms. Investment in technological solutions, such as online instruction, could be established when feasible.

Closing schools always has been a sensitive issue, subject to political favoritism. When the state Legislature passed a bill to set up a commission to review closures earlier this year, lawmakers focused the effort on only a few campuses and while that might have been warranted, politics did play a role, including a veto of the measure by the governor.

Hamamoto's directive is equitably aimed at underused schools across the islands and properly ascribes accountability to the school board and herself. Saving money shouldn't be the sole reason to shut down a campus, but when some schools are jammed while 356 classrooms sit empty, corrections need to be made.