Facilities Study: District Has Substantial Seat Surplus Overall but Some Schools Near Capacity
Summary
Facilities staff reported a districtwide functional-capacity model showing about 6,683 elementary seats of functional capacity versus current elementary enrollment of 5,230 (a surplus of ~1,453 seats); middle-school utilization was flagged as notably low in some buildings, prompting discussion of boundary changes and redistribution.
District facilities staff presented the methodology and results of a functional-capacity analysis intended to inform future building, redistricting and budget decisions.
Mark Stein explained the method: count classroom-sized blocks (650 square feet or larger) then subtract rooms reserved for programmatic uses (IU, special‑education, art, music, childcare) to arrive at a functional-room total. Stein then applied target class sizes by grade band to convert rooms to seats.
"So our capacity would be 6,683 seats. Our current enrollment is 5,230, leaving a difference of 1,453 seats that are available currently throughout the district," Stein said, describing the elementary-level calculation. He noted that capacity-modeling assumptions (targets of 20–25 at elementary levels and 25–30 for secondary) affect totals and that individual schools can be crowded even when district averages show surplus space.
Board members questioned secondary-level assumptions and elective-course viability; administrators described course-request timelines and a typical 15–18 minimum section size at the high-school level. Members also raised the prospect of changing sending-area boundaries to rebalance utilization; staff said such changes would be explored with routing tools and with attention to community disruption.
Next steps: staff will use the model and routing software to develop scenarios to address schools that are over 85% utilized while others show underutilization; any boundary or building-use proposals would return to the board for consideration.
