Construction of Schools: Some Creative Approaches

Nearly every day our newspapers have stories regarding some problem related to the capacity of our local school districts’ facilities and state plans to aid in construction of new schools.

This is a very serious problem, but it appears that some very obvious options are not being pursued.

For example, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District voted last week to consolidate Davis Middle School with Costa Mesa High School, making the high school a seven-12 grade facility. This was done over the protests of many concerned parents.

Recently there were two more articles related to schools (March 13)--one related to declining enrollment in the Huntington Beach schools, and another to the search by the Santa Ana Unified School District for new school sites.

In recent weeks there has also been much discussion of overcrowding in the Capistrano Unified School District, the imposition of large school construction fees on new developers and the need for state aid for new school construction.

I think that before the state allocates funding for additional school construction, the Legislature should examine overall school planning and require that districts exhaust all options for inter-district agreements for balancing of enrollment. Certainly this would not work in all cases--where the districts with declining enrollment are far removed from areas of new construction.

However, it would work in several districts in Orange County. Santa Ana is close to Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach, and Capistrano District is adjacent to the Laguna Beach Unified District.

Laguna Beach Unified School District closed Aliso Elementary School in 1981 over the strong objections of South Laguna parents. Now this school site is being sold, South Laguna children are being bused to El Morro School north of Laguna Beach (10 miles away), while the Capistrano District immediately south and east of South Laguna desperately lacks classroom space.

If an agreement had been reached with the Capistrano District, Aliso School could have remained open, serving the southern part of the Laguna Beach District as before, and Capistrano District could have had relief from overcrowded schools and the immediate need for new school construction.

Meanwhile, the Laguna Beach Unified School District acknowledges that a new elementary school site will be needed--but they hope to get funding for that from developers in Laguna Canyon (Aliso Viejo and the Irvine Co. and from the state.

Is it good planning to allow the closure and disposal of usable school sites, and then fund construction of new school facilities a few years later (or immediately in communities just over the district line from schools being closed)?

A creative solution to this problem would prevent much social and educational disruption from school closures, and that would help to solve some of the serious funding problems we are encountering.

ANN CHRISTOPH

South Laguna