The Prairie View State School in Marshall is among six Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled that will wind down its operations after the 2025-26 school year.

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s board of education voted Aug. 12 in Sedalia to move forward with the closing of Prairie View, as well as make permanent the recent closure of six other schools, including Rolling Meadow State School in Higginsville. Assistant commissioner Mark Wheatley says the a number of factors went into the board’s decision.

Wheatly says the closures came after a three-year consultant study. He notes that staffing changes also contributed to DESE’s decisions, including the one to close Rolling Meadow last year.

Most students will make their way to the EW Thompson State School in Sedalia. Wheatley says DESE will work with the each student’s family to update and carry over their individual educational plans to a new building next year.