Elk Grove Unified outlines start‑of‑school plan as enrollment nears 64,000

Elk Grove Unified School District officials on Thursday presented a broad “Start of Schools 2025–26” briefing that projected just under 64,000 students in TK‑12, reviewed safety and facility upgrades, and flagged recruitment and program expansions ahead of the new year.

“we are projected to serve just under 64,000 students from transitional kindergarten through twelfth grade,” Dr. Coates said as he opened the district’s presentation, calling the enrollment growth a major operational focus. Staff added roughly 2,000 more students in preschool and adult‑education programs to the total count.

Human resources reported the district employs 6,668 contracted staff and has expanded recruitment partnerships with 84 universities for student‑teacher placements. Corey Buckmeister told the board the district recently hired 394 certificated employees and 173 classified staff, and has screened more than 800 volunteers for fingerprint clearance.

Operations and facilities staff described projects including quad and turf replacements, CTE and locker‑room upgrades, and an intercom replacement program identified in the district’s facilities master plan as a safety priority. Nutrition services said the department expects to serve about 47,000 meals a day and is training staff for “scratch cooking” to meet nutrition standards.

Transportation data outlined a large routing operation: the district said it moves roughly 2,500,000 miles per year, runs about 145 daily routes and keeps approximately 175 buses in service, including 16 electric vehicles. Staff also flagged a new way for families to track buses using the MyRide K12 app.

Special education leaders described adding 14 new self‑contained classes for 2025–26 and bringing level‑2 programs to eight of nine middle schools and all high schools to allow students to remain in their communities. Mr. Singh said the district is developing an Environmental Independence Review (EIR) assessment to help IEP teams make placement decisions.

Technology services said a phase‑2 classroom audio‑visual project is nearly complete — about 30 rooms remain — and that the district is moving to cloud‑managed phone systems and Windows 11 device management. The district also announced an AI task force that will begin meeting in late August to draft policy and professional development for staff.

Board members asked for more details on several operational items, including how afterschool and credit‑recovery programs are communicated to families, efforts to include classified staff in preservice training, and pest‑control and landscaping maintenance at particular campuses. Staff said principals and site administrators are the first contact for families and that elementary‑education staff and the director of expanded learning will provide program qualification info.

The presentation closed with an acknowledgement that some funding streams are expiring and that the district will use its budget‑priority process to address gaps over the coming months. The board did not take action on the presentation; staff said follow‑up reporting and data will be provided as the year begins.