Archived -- Department of Education: California

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

A Back to School Special Report on the Baby Boom Echo - August 1997

CALIFORNIA

Over the last decade, state enrollment in California has increased by 160,000-190,000 per year, and state officials expect total enrollment to cross the six million mark in 2001-02. School overcrowding is a serious problem across the state, particularly in elementary schools. Henry Height, Assistant Division Director of School Facilities, indicated that they "can't build schools fast enough."

Elementary schools are increasingly having trouble finding class space as a result of a new state policy that limits K-3 class sizes to 20 students. Nearly 100 school buildings are currently under construction statewide. However, state education officials estimate that the state needs 22,000 new classrooms to serve its student population at an estimated total cost of $3 billion. Issuing state school construction bonds is their main financing strategy; the state has passed one almost every two years since 1982. In June of 1996, a bond issue passed for $3 billion, and state officials are planning to put another on the ballot in 1998.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has a K-12 enrollment of 670,000 students. The district has had the third largest enrollment growth between 1984 and 1994 nationwide, growing from 546,990 students to 632,973 students, largely due to the recovery of the local economy and immigration. Additionally, the Governor's reduction in class size in the early grades has meant that their few vacant classrooms disappeared rapidly. The district already transports 10,000 to 12,000 students a day because there are no facilities for those children in their communities due to overcrowding. In April of 1997, Los Angeles passed the largest local school bond in U.S. history, totaling $2.4 billion. District officials plan to use funds from the bond issue for new school construction, health and safety repairs, air conditioning, lunch shelters, security grills, locker replacement, bleacher repairs, portable classrooms, technology, and other projects.

Also in Southern California, K-12 enrollment the San Diego Unified School District is expected to grow by seven percent over the next five years. Between 1984 and 1994, the district grew by nearly 18 percent. School officials there report overcrowding at all levels, with the problem worsened in the elementary grades due to the mandated reduction in class size. The district reports that they need more new schools, and need to repair nearly all of their 160 existing schools. These unmet needs are expected to cost $1.2 billion. The district has had some success with bond issues, passing them in 1988 and 1992. They hope to pass another in 1998.

In northern California, the Elk Grove Unified School District, a suburb of Sacramento, also struggles to comply with the reduction in class size. Their superintendent, Dave Gordon, believes that the new state program would bankrupt the district and "eliminate options for the...upper grades." Their overall enrollment has doubled in the past decade, and school district officials expect that trend to continue over the next 15 years. Schools are overcrowded at all levels, and currently rely on the use of 705 portable classrooms to contain --temporarily-- their growth. The district has had varied success with local bond issues, passing one in 1987 after a failed attempt in 1986. Officials expect to put another bond issue on the ballot in early 1998.

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