District braces for fifty percent growth this school year

The film “Field of Dreams” taught us that ‘if you build it, they will come.’ However, for the Maricopa Unified School District, the kids will come — whether they build schools or not.

In anticipation of that growth, last month Maricopa Unified approved a working budget of just under $17 million. That’s about $2.5 million more than was proposed officially to the School Facilities Board (SFB).

“We did that because, as you know, we were afraid if we didn’t have staff on board to start the year that we’d be further behind than we are now,” Business Manager Mark Busch explained. “The difference was about two million, and we were planning on growth to cover that two million. And in fact, it has done that.”

Enrollment numbers at the end of May last school year were about 3,300, not including kindergarten students. The district is calculating enrollment numbers at the end of this school year’s first 100 days to reach 3,638 students.

“That’s another fifty percent growth in a year, which will add another $4.4 million to budget on top of where we were,” added Busch.

The district has also recently had to compile data for the SFB’s required annual update on their capital plan, which asks school districts to project where they will be in 2015. Busch predicts that Maricopa’s school district won’t even be completely built out at that time.

“If all the planning that the city gave me, that’s in these packet sheets, actually happens, in 2015 we’ll be looking at over 36,000 students. If things slow down, it may not get there yet, but the space is there if they can solve water issues and others. And that’s where we’re headed. So long as the prices in Phoenix stay high, we’ll continue to grow,” Busch said.

One million of this year’s working budget is already put aside for construction costs of the two schools currently underway. The schools are in part being built to help keep class sizes down, Busch says, but SFB funds for further growth during the year will help pay for supplies and equipment. In the future Maricopa will be facing the need for four high schools, eight middle schools and 21 elementary schools. The district is looking at, minimally, three more elementary schools in 2008. District officials have their eyes on donated sites from the Glennwilde, Villages, Tortosa and Rancho El Mirage developments for those schools. Per the student enrollment numbers they have, the district already qualifies for a second high school next year.

“I don’t think we have a comprehensive plan,” board president Jim Chaston noted at the September 13 meeting. “If we’re going to have this kind of growth, we need to sit down and dedicate the next study session solely to this, where we lay out the maps, where the growth is coming, where we’re going to need the schools at a certain time, so that we know, and we’re not trying to figure that out.”

Board member Tim White also made a request for a subsequent board meeting, asking that the issue of middle school uniforms be brought again before the board.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for September 27, at 6 p.m. in Room 1 at the high school.