Elk Grove Building Up To 12 New Schools Over The Next Decade
By Kelly Ryan
ELK GROVE (CBS13) - Up to a dozen new schools could be built in Elk Grove over the next decade, and it may not stop there.
The plan calls for dozens of other schools to be built throughout the school district between south Watt Avenue and Grantline Road along Jackson Highway. So who will pay for them?
Elk Grove Unified School District's 2015 master plan has identified 52 new schools sites as the area experiences rapid growth.
"All these kids are going growing up and they're going to need some place to go," said Elk Grove resident Adam Hart.
But district officials say in reality they will be looking at building 12.
"It would be 10 elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school," said Hart.
It's welcomed news for Hart who lives in the growing development of Kavala Ranch with his two young children.
"Our school we have is so overcrowded that they're busing students to other places in Elk Grove," he said.
The district, the fifth largest in the state, says it's working with 15 to 17 developers who are building homes within the 320 square miles of the district.
The name Elk Grove Unified School District is a bit deceiving. The school district covers three cities, including Sacramento, Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova, along with unincorporated areas of Sacramento County like Wilton, Dillard and Franklin.
The district currently has 66 schools with 62,000 students. In the next 10 years, the district predicts there will be 19,400 new homes and 14,000 new students.
"About every single household build in our school district creates about a half of an elementary school student and goes up from there," said Elk Grove Unified School District spokesperson Robert Pierce.
The total price tag for the schools is over $600 million. Taxpayers will be looking at voting on a statewide bond measure this fall. Without it, the district says new schools may be on the chopping block.
District officials predict a future teacher shortfall. They are actively recruiting the 200 to 250 teachers they will need this fall.