School district plans for new students

By: KELLY BRUSCH - Staff Writer | Saturday, April 24, 2004 9:36 PM PDT ∞

MENIFEE ---- The Menifee Union School District has changed dramatically since it began with just one school, built in 1952. Menifee Elementary eventually was joined by four other schools, and the district isn't done growing. It's just hitting its stride, school officials say.

In the next few years, the district has plans to open 11 additional schools within its boundaries and is actively looking for new properties that would be suitable for a school site, said Assistant Superintendent Dan Wood.

The population of the Menifee Valley stands at about 66,000 now, and is expected to jump to more than 100,000 in the next 2 1/2 years, according to county estimates. At the prompting of Trustee Bob O'Donnell, the board approved an informal resolution at a meeting earlier this month to ask the district to step up its efforts in finding available properties for new schools before land runs out.

Although many of the larger developments such as Audie Murphy in Menifee have designated land within their housing projects for schools, district officials fear that the developers of some of the smaller projects will not be willing to sell land within the project. The district must pay full market value for each property it buys within a project, Wood said.

"As long as development continues, we're going to be opening a new school every year," O'Donnell said. "What I'm asking is to start looking for property in the (northern edge) of Menifee, or even other areas where we think we would like to have an elementary or middle school."

The district's sixth elementary school, in the Mapleton project in Murrieta, is under construction, and officials hope to open it by summer of 2005, Wood said. Officials hope to start building the district's seventh elementary school, in the Pacific Palms development, formerly called Newport Estates, in Menifee, within a few months, and open late summer or early fall 2005.

Officials also have designated at least 11 other sites for schools within housing projects, Wood said. Grading of the school site in the Canyon Hills development in Quail Valley already has begun. Audie Murphy is scheduled to include a middle school north of Newport Road and an elementary school south of the road.

The Pardee development in the easternmost edge of Lake Elsinore will house one elementary school. Countryside homes, south of Newport and just west of I-215; Winchester Ranch, on the district's eastern boundary; and Menifee East, west of Bell Mountain Middle School; all will have elementary schools.

Menifee east, near Callie Kirkpatrick Elementary, along with the Garden City development in Murrieta also will have elementary schools.

The Domenigoni Barton project, just west of Highway 79 North/Winchester Road, will have two elementary schools and one middle school, Wood said.

In addition to the sites that already have been designated for schools, the district is looking at several properties on its northern boundaries in expectation that smaller developers may not be willing to negotiate a land swap.

School officials have written letters to several property owners and continue to scout out suitable land for schools, although it's difficult and expensive to build a school outside a specific development because the district might have to build roads and extend water and sewer lines to the school, Wood said.

Student enrollment, now at 6,251, is expected to triple when all the available land within the district's boundaries is built on, Wood said. With a projected student body of between 20,000 and 22,000, it's important to explore all the district's land options for building schools, he said.

Although the district has struggled in the past to pay for its schools ---- it had to take a loan out to build Ridgemoor, which opened in 1996 ---- officials expect the area's growth to pay for the costs of building future schools.

"With additional development, we have more funds," he said. "We're creating new (tax districts) all the time."

The district has about $29 million in its facilities pot, which is funded by general obligation bonds, where residents are assessed on their taxes, special tax districts the district sets up and by developer fees. About $11.5 million is tied up in building schools 6 and 7, depending on if the district receives matching funds from the state, Wood said. About $10 million of Measure J, a $14.5 million bond passed in 2002, is designated for building new schools.

Trustee O'Donnell has spent 21 years on the school board, and said he remembers when the community of Menifee had one stoplight and the district consisted of only one school.

"When I came on board in 1983, we had about 15 teachers and 300 students," he said. Times may have changed, but O'Donnell said he believes the district is in a good position to keep up.

Sites designated by the Menifee Union School District for new schools

Canyon Hills development in Quail Valley to have elementary school

Audie Murphy in Menifee to have middle school and elementary school

Pardee development in Lake Elsinore to have one elementary school

Countryside in Menifee to have one elementary school

Winchester Ranch on district's eastern boundary to have elementary school

Menifee East to have elementary school

Garden City to have elementary school

Domenigoni Barton project to have two elementary schools and a middle school

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