Closing Briar Crest Elementary would save the Pattonville School District $700,000 per year, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. 

That was one of the main takeaways from a parents meeting at the school on Monday. 

Pattonville officials announced they would try and close Briar Crest on Friday. Now, it's up to school board members to determine if that's the best course of action. 

The proposal is being made due to prolonged economic challenges facing the Pattonville School District and extra capacity available in the district's other elementary schools. 

The district's budget situation isn't terrible. But it's not ideal, either. 

According to district documents, the economic downturn has lasted much longer than Pattonville officials anticipated. In fact, the district will run out of cash in five years if school officials don't act balancing the budget.

"Expense reductions alone will not be able to address the shortfall without a significant impact on how we educate students, and the quality of their education," a presentation made to the board earlier this month states.

Without change in budget structure, the district would deplete its reserves by teh end of the 2016-17 school year.

Under the Briar Crest closure proposal, most of the Briar Crest attendance area will be absorbed by Drummond Elementary, with a smaller portion going to Bridgeway Elementary. This change will require moving some of the current Drummond attendance areas to Bridgeway and Parkwood elementary schools.

School officials don't plan on closing other schools, the Post-Dispatch report said.