Messages in C.R. enrollment study

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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The Cedar Rapids school district has space for about 5,000 more students than it serves, a new study shows. While that raw number doesn't account for all use factors, it's clear that district officials must soon tackle important, difficult decisions when they begin weighing redistricting and possible school closings - and even building new.

The study, by RSP & Associates, Overland Park, Kan., found that the K-5 capacity of 11,000 accounts for most of the excess. With the value district patrons generally place on neighborhood elementary schools, those figures naturally raise questions and fears.

Supt. Dave Benson and other school officials told us last week that no closing will be considered until after a stakeholder committee of district employees, parents and community members is appointed and reviews the study - and one on facilities conditions due in June - and public hearings are conducted. The timeline calls for school board decisions in February.

In our meeting, Benson focused on two issues that apparently will loom large in driving decisions “based on the data”:

l The effect of the planned Highway 100 extension, to loop through the city's west side.

l The pace of “re-greening” in neighborhoods where the 2008 flood displaced hundreds of students.

Benson sees considerable potential for more development on the city's west side because of the Highway 100 project, noting that it could attract housing - and families with students - in areas within the city limits.

Growing enrollment is a big issue because student numbers have fallen the past decade to this year's 16,086 - a historic low since 1960. Out-migration to nearby College Community and Linn-Mar districts, among the fast-growing districts in the state, has been a factor. A recent projection by state officials showed Cedar Rapids as the only one among Iowa's eight urban districts not expecting to grow over the next five years. RSP projects declining Cedar Rapids enrollment for several more years, then a slow increase beginning at mid-decade.

RSP expects the flood-affected neighborhoods to grow but at a slow pace - and probably lag even more because voters rejected a flood protection plan this month.

Better efficiency in operating the district while ensuring opportunities for all students are the intended outcomes of decisions based on the two studies. Such will involve long-range decisions.

In the meantime, however, the district must do everything it can to ensure its education offerings and quality are competitive and stem the enrollment bleeding.

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