HAVEN, Kan. (AP) — Despite pleas from parents, a south-central Kansas school board has reaffirmed an earlier decision to close an elementary school.

The Haven school board voted 4-3 Monday night to close Mount Hope Elementary School at the end of the current school year. The school has fewer than 40 students in kindergarten through eighth grades.

Parents, students and Mount Hope residents showed up Monday’s meeting to argue that closing the school would devastate Mount Hope.

The Hutchinson News reports the Haven school district is facing a deficit of $707,437 through a combination of losses from state block grant funding, an expected drop in its local option budget, an increase in health insurance costs and a cut in its state aid for the current year.

The district has reserves of $15,000.