Overcrowded schools need help near and afar
Two local school districts are considering placing referendums before voters this fall to address the problem of overcrowding.
Anoka-Hennepin School District officials already rely on the use some 98 portable classrooms, 40 of which dating from the 1960s, to handle the student overflow occurring within the district.
At any one time, about 2000 of the 40,000 students in the school district are attending classes in portable classrooms, it’s estimated.
Portable classrooms have been indispensible at Anoka High School.
The high school, built for a student population of 2,400, could have some 3,200 student in attendance this fall.
Classroom space is also tight in the neighboring Elk River School District.
Sitting astride one of the fastest growing regions in the state, Elk River school officials anticipate a student population growth of about 300 students per year.
Elk River High School, which can comfortable house 1600 students, currently teems with 2000.
Overcrowding is not limited to the northern suburbs — or even the metro
The Lakeville public schools are also feeling the crunch, and in southern Minnesota, the same pressures grip the Caledonia public schools.
School overcrowding is a complex issue, not without ironies. For instance, many school boards are worrying about declining enrollments, not growing.
Even so, school districts like Anoka-Hennepin, Elk River, Lakeville and Caledonia struggle to find room for their robust populations.
Unlike cities or counties, school districts can’t readily engineer future growth. If a 1000 unit development is built somewhere in the district, the school district must provide education for the new students the development brings in.
School districts have shown ingenuity in dealing with overcrowding.
Disused commercial buildings have been transformed into classrooms, and school planners are envisioning school buildings that can be brought into commercial use once no longer needed for classrooms.
But ingenuity, however laudable, goes so far.
Last session, the Elk River School District sought a state loan to help pay for school expansion. The school district is willing to pay it’s way, said Superintendent Dr. David Flannery.
But like a business, it needed a loan to grow, he said.
Ultimately, Elk River failed to get the loan. In part, this outcome reflects the policy of putting money on the school funding formula favored at the Legislature last session.
In general, this might have been a wise approach.
But the pressures facing school districts are highly varied — no one approach fits all. And lawmakers should consider the acute demands growth places on school districts.
Equalization funding has proven its value in helping financially strapped school districts build the schools they need. Certainly, the demand for such assistance hasn’t waned.
Some school districts desperately need a helping hand.
And if some districts do place referendums on the ballot this fall, it’s because no one wants to turn back students at the school doors.
