In a 6-1 vote Tuesday evening, the East Lansing school board decided Spartan Village Elementary School will remain open next year - but it will not be the same school the community has come to identify with.

Major changes include reducing the school from a kindergarten through fourth grade program to K-2 curriculum only.

Closing the school was one of 72 ideas suggested at earlier budget discussions to help the city make up for a $3.5 million deficit. The closing of Spartan Village Elementary would have saved the district an estimated $300,000. It is unclear if the current cutbacks to the school will aid the budget.

Instead, the district made $3.1 million in cuts elsewhere Tuesday, in addition to $400,000 cut previously. Those cuts include some full-time and part-time teacher layoffs and fees for involvement in some high school extracurricular activities and athletics.

Some view the decision to keep the elementary school open as damaging to the district’s other schools. But for the neighborhood, and for the community in general, Spartan Village Elementary is more than just a building. It’s a sanctuary where children have the opportunity to learn in a culturally rich atmosphere. The rich variety of students who have attended Spartan Village Elementary have been some of the most diverse in the East Lansing district, and that is an experience that cannot be easily reassessed or discarded because of budget problems.

The district has done its part to preserve this unique institution and put what is best for its students at the forefront of its decision. Even if some children must leave Spartan Village Elementary earlier, students still will have the opportunity to experience the setting for up to three years. The daylong kindergarten program, an optional system that Spartan Village Elementary is known for, also will be saved and open.

The matter of money is still lingering in the background for the East Lansing school system.

If East Lansing does not reverse its recent trend of decreasing enrollment, district officials will have to deal with further cuts in the future.

We hope the unique atmosphere of Spartan Village Elementary will continue to be preserved in the school, and attract students to East Lansing and its opportunities in the process.