W. Valley looks at $4.5 million expansion

Growth has been the prevailing theme at West Valley School over the last two decades.

At first, new students trickled into the district. Enrollment increased by just 36 students, from 264 to 300, from 1991 to 1995.

Then the trickle became a flood. More families moved into the district, swelling West Valley’s enrollment from 327 in fall 2000 to 447 now, including 40 new students this year.

That’s just 30 students away from the building’s maximum capacity, and school officials don’t expect the flood to stop soon. They anticipate “a tsunami of growth” in the West Valley area, where thousands of homes could be built out over the next few decades, bringing hundreds of students to the district.

And while the recession might hold back the tsunami for a few years, new students continue to flow into West Valley at a faster rate than the school can handle.

That’s why school officials and trustees are considering asking the community to approve a $4.5 million bond request to expand the existing building.

Superintendent Todd Fiske explained West Valley’s need at a community meeting Tuesday. A second meeting is scheduled for 6:30 tonight in the school library.

Fiske didn’t outline specific plans but did say the money would be used to build a middle school wing off the south end of the building. The wing would include 10 to 12 classrooms and would be completed by winter 2012 or 2013, Fiske said.

If the board decides to run a bond election and if voters approve it, it would raise property taxes by about $141 a year on a home with a taxable value of $150,000.

For a couple of years, voters would bear the burden of payments on the new bond and on the bond they approved in 2000. The district is refinancing and will get the 2000 bond term reduced from 10 years remaining to five, with a lower interest rate.

That could save taxpayers more than $322,000, Fiske said.

And if voters approve the bond request, there’s a chance that trustees won’t have to ask taxpayers for a tax levy to operate the new wing. The extra space would allow West Valley to offer full-day kindergarten for the first time, which would increase state funding.

There are other options besides adding another wing.

Fiske briefly discussed consolidating with other school districts or redrawing district boundaries. Neither is a likely scenario, and either might hurt West Valley by taking away enrollment-based state funding.

Another option is bringing in a portable building as a temporary solution to the school’s space needs. A portable with about 10 classrooms would cost around $1.5 million to $2 million, Fiske said.

Doing nothing isn’t an option since new students continue to boost enrollment numbers.

The tsunami Fiske anticipates stems in large part from the Starling development west of Glacier High School. That subdivision includes 3,000 lots to be built out over the next few decades. If those lots sell, it ultimately could mean 1,200 new students in the West Valley district.

The Aspen Group, Starling’s developer, has “assured me that it’s going to go. It’s not an if, it’s when,” Fiske said.

West Valley trustees began studying their district’s growth five years ago, just five years after a $1.9 million bond issue paid for a renovation that included a new gymnasium, library, administrative offices and six classrooms.

In 2005, the board predicted West Valley enrollment would reach 470 by 2011, a number the school may very well exceed next fall. Now the board expects to reach an enrollment of 575 by 2015.

The increase wouldn’t matter, Fiske said, if he could choose what grade levels the new students were in.

“We’ve got [room for] 29 or 30 kids left, but I need to hand pick them. They can’t all be second grade,” Fiske said.

The district already is aware of 20 or more students who will join the district next fall from Habitat for Humanity homes built in the West Valley district, he said.

There are ways to alleviate the enrollment influxes. West Valley currently allows out-of-district students to attend but charges the maximum tuition the state allows, about $970 a year.

Fiske said the district has had to turn away some out-of-district students, although each student brings in additional funding from the state, because there simply is no room.

If space gets much tighter, Fiske said he might have to ask out-of-district students at West Valley to leave to make room for in-district children. Even that wouldn’t give the school much breathing room, he added; there are only about 20 out-of-district students at West Valley this year, which could free up to two or three seats in each grade.

Ultimately, Fiske anticipates a time when one campus isn’t enough in West Valley. Plans for a second school already have been discussed, although any action is unlikely any time soon. The Aspen Group has donated 10 acres in the Starling development for a school building, with an additional 5 acres of park land surrounding the school property.

If enrollment continues to grow, that property could be necessary — but that means the school board would have to ask voters for a bond issue large enough to build a new school.

The board likely will make a decision about whether to run a bond election this spring at its next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the school.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.