Ordinance No. 20545 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Draft 9/29/14 planning activity. The law defines high growth districts as those that have an enrollment of over 5,000 students and an increase in enrollment of six percent or more during the three most recent school years. At present, there are no high growth school districts in the UGB. 28. ORS 197.296(4)(a) states that when the UGB is amended to provide needed housing, “As part of this process, the amendment shall include sufficient land reasonably necessary to accommodate the siting of new public school facilities. The need and inclusion of lands for new public school facilities shall be a coordinated process between the affected public school districts and the local government that has the authority to approve the urban growth boundary.” 29. Enrollment projections for the five public school districts in the metropolitan area and the University of Oregon and Lane Community College (LCC) are not consistent. Bethel School District and the University of Oregon expect increases while Springfield and Eugene School Districts and LCC are experiencing nearly flat or declining enrollments. Enrollment is increasing fastest in the elementaryand high school attendance areas near new development. 30. Short-term fluctuations in school attendance are addressed through the use of adjusted attendance area boundaries, double shifting, use of portable classrooms, and busing. School funding from the state is based on student enrollment for school districts in the State of Oregon. This funding pattern affects the willingness of districts to allow out-of- district transfers and to adjust district boundaries. Adjustments in district boundaries may be feasible where there is no net loss or gain in student enrollments between districts. 31. Creating or retaining small, neighborhood schools reduces the need for busing and provides more opportunity for students to walk or bike to school. Quality smaller schools may allow more parents to stay in established neighborhoods and to avoid moving out to new subdivisions on the urban fringe or to bedroom communities. However, growth patterns do not always respect school district boundaries. For example, natural cycles of growth and neighborhood maturation result in uneven geographic growth patterns in the metropolitan area, causing a disparity between the location of some schools and school children. This results in some fringe area schools exceeding capacity, while some central city schools are under capacity. 32.Long-range enrollment forecasts determine the need to either build new schools, expand existing facilities, or close existing schools. Funding restrictions imposed by state law and some provisions in local codes may discourage the retention and redevelopment of neighborhood schools. Limits imposed by state law on the use of bond funds for operations and maintenance make the construction of new, lower maintenance buildings preferable to remodeling existing school buildings. In addition, if existing schools were expanded, some school sites may not meet current local parking and other code requirements. III-G-11 Replaced October 31, 2008