A baby boom that's putting more pressure on school facilities is actually a good opportunity to revisit what to do with under-utilized, inner-city schools.

Both the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Catholic School districts have seen overall enrolments jump faster than the systems can provide space. The CBE expects to add another 16,000 students over the next 10 years, driving up the need for more schools in newer communities. The CBE has already opened six new public elementary schools this year, and will open four junior high schools in 2012. The Catholic board opened six new schools this year as well. Unfortunately, there are still 25 communities waiting for schools.

Supply is not keeping up with demand, nor is funding. Alberta Education has warned the boards there won't be increases in base funding in the upcoming budget.

Perhaps this will force officials and communities to look in their old backyards for answers. Empty or half-empty schools in inner-city neighbourhoods are bereft of young people, forcing closures of perfectly good, often historic sandstone facilities. Not only does it signal the death of an era, it kills any potential for new life to be born in older neighbourhoods. To be sure, there are numerous barriers keeping younger families out of mature neighbourhoods, namely housing affordability. Those with small children need space. They get more house for their dollar the further away they buy from downtown. They also need good schools, but without students, schools have no choice but to close down. It's a vicious circle that must be interrupted.

The CBE will close Sir William Van Horne High School in June 2011, after enrolment dropped in recent years to 300 students, down from a capacity of nearly 1,000. This year, the board will close a regular kindergarten to Grade 6 program at Dr. J.K. Mulloy School in the northwest, and Eugene Coste School in the southwest. The regular program at Dalhousie School in the northwest closed in June, as did Queensland Downs elementary school, despite an emotional plea by parents.

A school plays a major role in the revitalization of a neighbourhood. Parents in Bridgeland understand this, and rallied together to save St. Angela School. In a wonderful example of collective problem solving, parents, the school and the community came up with a plan to double enrolment. They did this by attracting parents from the suburbs, who work downtown, offering on-site day care at the school, along with before-and after-school care and affordable parking, for those who wanted to drop off their vehicles and commute by C-Train.

The issue of affordability can be addressed through special programs such as increased incentives for developers to build starter homes in mature neighbourhoods. Some municipalities, for example, take back surplus lots and build starter homes on the property, secure the financing from the bank, and then lend the down payment to qualifying first-time buyers, interest free, for five years.

All the efforts to revitalize older neighbourhoods with younger families, however, won't bring them there if there are no schools. Kids in some areas of the city need a school, and schools in other areas need kids. Now is the time for the conversation of how best to bring the two together.