Starting Dec. 1, look for a feature on tampabay.com that will serve as a forum for sharing information and answering questions regarding the Pinellas school closings. This is an unusual and fast-moving issue and we will try to keep everyone as well-informed as we can. When the site is up and running, we’ll let you know it right here.

The School Board this week tentatively decided to merge four middle schools into two and will meet Dec. 2 to discuss the proposed closing of five elementary schools, all part of an effort to address declining enrollment and a projected $40-million budget shortfall for 2009-10. The first formal vote on the proposals is set for Dec. 9. The second and final vote could come at the board’s regular meeting on Jan. 13.

In the meantime, you can study up using the following materials:

* The power point presentation given to the School Board on Tuesday. It includes statistics on enrollment decline and estimated savings of closing schools.

* A summary of this year’s budget.

* A comparison of how Pinellas stacks up to other large Florida counties in several spending categories (takes awhile to download).

* Two recent memos from district officials describing the budget situation. One is dated Oct. 22, the other Nov. 12.

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