MUNCIE, Ind. (AP): The Muncie School Board approved plans to close one of the city's two high schools in a consolidation move that will create a single high school with more than 1,700 students.

Monday night, school board members voted four to one in favor of turning Southside High School into a middle school and moving its students to Central High School. The district has said consolidating the two schools would save an estimated $1.7 million annually.

Superintendent Tim Heller told board members the “rationale for this recommendation” was that Central High School was the only building that can accommodate all of the district's students from grades 9-12.

890 Southside students will join 885 Central High students at the newly renamed Muncie Central High School next school year.