College Community deals with growing enrollment in a down economy

Mayor Jason Rabe expects the 2010 census to reveal big changes in Fairfax.

The town south of Cedar Rapids had a population of 889 in 2000, but Rabe anticipates the census will show Fairfax has grown to between 2,000 and 2,500 residents.

If Rabe's estimate is correct, what is drawing so many people to the area?

“Just from talking to residents, the appeal is College Community school district,” Rabe said. “The district is a key selling point for people moving into our community.”

The district doesn't need to wait for the census. Its enrollment increased an average of 110 students a year, from 3,115 students in the 2000-01 school year to 4,382 currently.

College Community's schools are all based on a campus in southwest Cedar Rapids, but most of the district covers towns to the south, such as Fairfax, Ely, Swisher, Shueyville and Walford, all of which have been growing in the past 10 years.

“A large percentage of our growth is parents anticipating kids,” Rabe said.

With increased enrollment comes expansion. The district opened new schools in 2004 and 2009 to compensate, but the students keep coming. Estimates by the Iowa Department of Education going into the 2010-11 school year were 89 students short of the final count.

Administrators are cautiously optimistic. Growth generally is regarded as a positive, but the pace is a little worrying, said Superintendent Richard Whitehead.

“You want to be in a growing district if you had your druthers, but it is a challenge,” Whitehead said. “If it was a little bit slower, I'd feel a little more comfortable.”

The challenge comes in keeping class sizes down amid shrinking space. Schools in the district average 24 students to a teacher. Space for more classes was freed up following the opening of Prairie Ridge and Prairie Point schools, but many of those rooms now serve the district's 4-year-old preschool program.

The state-mandated preschool meant the district had to find space for 240 new students, but Whitehead said the program is worth it.

“We think it is a huge benefit to our kids and our community in the long run, but it does present some additional problems,” Whitehead said.

The national and statewide recession also is a source of difficulty. Cuts in state funding and allowable growth forced the district to enact a hiring freeze last year.

“I would hope that we're not going to have to be in a spending-freeze mode again with increasing enrollment, because you fall behind so fast that you really can't catch up when that happens,” he said.

Whitehead hopes to use federal Edujobs money to hire nine additional teachers next year. The new hires will help staff the new elementary school the district plans to open in 2014. The land for the school already has been purchased, but the economy still could throw a wrench in plans.

Most of the communities served by College Community are happy with the district's progress and have taken the district's growth in stride, said Rabe.

“Everywhere you go, you see people wearing Prairie colors,” Rabe said.

Dwight Hughes, owner of Hughes Nursery in southwest Cedar Rapids, had two children graduate from College Community Schools in 1999 and 2001. He worries that the growth could take away the rural qualities that make the Prairie schools special.

“The culture of that district when it was created was quite unique, especially when you realize there's no main street to that district,” Hughes said. “You start to lose some of that with the size.”