Schools

School crowding eases up

The district plans to build 21 schools so none will be more than 15 percent over capacity.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK, Times Staff Writer
Published January 21, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Ray Gadd is confident the proposed program can reduce crowding by 2017.

LAND O'LAKES - For years, new homes rose in Pasco County and new families moved in faster than the school district could keep pace.

It wasn't uncommon for schools built for 1,200 students to have twice that many. Board members didn't even start worrying about crowding until a school reached 170 percent of capacity.

"And we had portables at one point, they said, enough for nine schools," recalls Marge Whaley, the School Board's veteran with almost 16 years of service. "And kids just kept coming."

The pace of new student enrollment has slowed since the most frenzied times, though Pasco remains one of just a handful of Florida districts to keep growing. Meanwhile, the district has started to catch up with the number of permanent seats it has available for students.

"We still have places where we have overcrowded schools," assistant superintendent Ray Gadd said, mentioning Wesley Chapel and Trinity as key concerns. "But we're much better off than we were two or three years ago."

During that time, the district opened 13 new schools.

Still, Gadd acknowledged, the work is not done.

The district projects that at least four elementary schools will be above 150 percent of capacity next year and five middle schools will be above 140 percent. Five high schools are expected to be above 125 percent of capacity.

More than any other question, board members say, parents ask them when their neighborhood schools will get some relief.

Plans to tie new home development decisions to classroom availability take effect later this year. But the "concurrency" effort will take five to 10 years for all schools in the county to be at or below what district leaders consider acceptable levels of service - 115 percent of capacity for elementary and middle schools, 105 percent of capacity for high schools.

The district has plans to build 21 new schools, plus renovate or add to seven existing ones, over the next decade. The cost for construction alone will be about $563-million.

Perhaps the need is higher. But officials did not want to go out on a limb with their projections.

"Revenue is key to this whole plan," chief financial officer Olga Swinson says. "We were conservative."

She based her estimates on a 5 percent increase in revenue each year, and took into account the district's current debt load. The board has bonded its taxes for capital projects into the foreseeable future, meaning it can't borrow much more unless the income stream changes dramatically.

Board member Allen Altman says he's pleased with the district's attempts to rein in the crowding problem, through both funding priorities and the state-mandated concurrency rules.

"The real issue is, in the past they reacted to what was already on the ground," said Altman, first elected in 2006. "Hopefully, concurrency and communication between the school district and the county and developers, all working together as a team, will allow us to have classrooms in place when students move into the houses instead of years down the road."

Gadd says he's confident that the proposed program to reduce crowding to acceptable levels of service by 2017 is doable.

"If there's improvement in the economy or improvement in sales tax revenue, that will be icing on the cake," he says. "We might be able to move beyond that basic plan. ... Anything we get in addition to the revenues (expected) will help us solve some of the problems sooner."

The School Board will meet Feb. 5 to talk about the capital budget, looking at all the possible projects and setting forth its priorities. The district staff continues to seek property for several of the new schools. The land acquisition budget for the next two years is expected to reach about $28-million. More sites are becoming available as housing development slows.

"I think we're showing strong signs of catching up," Gadd says. "I don't think any time in the near future you'll see a situation in Pasco County where we are ahead of development. But it's the difference of being 3 feet behind the front-runner and 1 mile behind."

Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at solochek@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4614. For more education news, visit the Gradebook at blogs.tampabay.com/schools.

Fast facts

Planned school construction,2008-2017

The Pasco school district intends to spend $563-million in school construction and renovations over the next decade. By 2017, officials expect enrollment at all elementary and middle schools to be at no greater than 115 percent of capacity, and all high schools at no greater than 105 percent. Here's a list of what's in store (years represent beginning of project):

2007-08: Elementary R in Connerton, Elementary V in Watergrass, classroom pods at San Antonio and Richey elementary schools, classroom wing at Zephyrhills High, renovations at Sanders Elementary, High School EEE in Hudson

2008-09: Renovations at Pasco High and Pasco Middle

2009-10: Elementary X at Bexley Ranch area*, Middle School HH in Wesley Chapel*, classroom wing at Pasco High

2010-11: High School GGG on Old Pasco Road

2011-12: Elementary O in Northwest Pasco*

2012-13: Elementary S on State Road 54 corridor (Trinity area)*, Elementary T in North Zephyrhills, Elementary U at Northwood DRI

2013-14: Elementary W at Wiregrass*, Elementary Z at Epperson Ranch area*

2014-15: Elementary 1A at Lester Dairy area*, Elementary 1B at Wyndfields*, Middle School GG at Connerton

2015-16: Elementary Y at Starkey Ranch*

2016-17: Elementary 1D at Wiregrass*

Unfunded projects: Middle School II and High School III in Two Rivers, Elementary 1G in Connerton, Elementary Q in undetermined location

* = site to be determined

Source: Pasco County School Board

[Last modified January 20, 2008, 20:31:53]