TEMECULA —— About 80 middle school, 40 elementary school and 16 high school classrooms sit empty in the Temecula Valley Unified School District, according to data released Tuesday by the Temecula Valley Educators Association.

The number of unused classrooms was an issue raised in the recent contract dispute between teachers and Temecula Valley Unified School District officials, but this is the first time either side specified exactly how many empty classrooms there are and where they're located.

The association culled its numbers by asking its campus representatives to report how many classrooms on each campus are unused.

District officials, who made a similar request of campus officials, declined to release their findings or confirm the union's specific figures.

"We are fully aware that we have 100-plus empty classrooms," said board President Bob Brown. "We have classrooms ready for the children and families moving into this area."

The district's student population growth is outpacing the state average by about 6 percent, according to district figures. Enrollment is expected to grow to 26,625 students in the upcoming school year from 25,013 pupils this year.

Survey results

The association's survey found that at Gardner Middle School, 16 to 18 classrooms sit empty daily. At Margarita Midde School, eight do. And at Vail Ranch Middle School, 18 classrooms are unused. Bella Vista Middle School tops the list at 30 unused classrooms.

At the high school level, about five classrooms, mostly portables, are unused at Temecula Valley High School; one at Chaparral; and about 10 at Great Oak.

And at the district's elementary schools, Alamos has 21 empty classrooms, French Valley has three, Barnett 13, and Sparkman "has a whole section in its lower campus that is unoccupied," said Jim Thomas, the association's president. He added that the union believes there are more campuses with empty classrooms, but the data was not readily available.

Association's assertion

The empty classroom issue was a point of contention among teachers and trustees during the recent debate over the district's salary proposal.

The association's estimated 1,300 teachers, counselors, nurses and psychologists ratified the district's proposal late last week by a 17-vote margin.

Prior to the vote, many teachers cited the empty classrooms as the reason $1.64 million the district planned to use for start-up costs to equip three new elementary schools should go to salaries instead. They said district officials should hold off on opening the schools —— La Vorgna, Tobin and Crowne Hill —— because classrooms sit unused. The schools are scheduled to open in August.

"Opening new schools ahead of student growth causes the district to have to hire new administrators, office workers and custodians," Thomas said Tuesday. "In addition, there is the ongoing expenditure of utilities. Is it good stewardship to open schools at half-capacity, thus incurring these increased costs?"

Thomas said district teachers should not be expected to sacrifice their cost-of-living adjustment so the district can equip new schools with money teachers deserve.

As part of the $42 billion allotted for K-12 education in the state's 2004-05 budget, a 2.41 percent cost-of-living adjustment for school districts was provided.

The adjustment is not required to be spent on salary increases, although teachers said they believe the same percentage handed down by the state should be given to teachers. Temecula teachers agreed to a 3.15 percent salary increase retroactive to Jan. 1 with no change in benefits.

District rebuttal

While there are empty classrooms in the district, the majority are in the middle and high schools —— not elementary schools, Brown said.

The three elementary schools the board agreed to open are set to relieve overcrowding and avoid long busing routes for overflow students who would have to be shipped to campuses much farther from home, he said.

Moreover, many of the schools with empty classrooms —— Great Oak, Alamos and Bella Vista —— just opened in August, and have not reached capacity yet, Brown said. No doubt they will, he added.

"When we put in an application to build schools, the state is the one that determines if we have the need or don't have the need for them," Brown said.

State education officials review data such as student enrollment projections, incoming housing developments and how many families are moving into the area when deciding whether a district needs another school, he said.

"We have just been pretty proactive to the fact that there are going to be many new (housing) developments," Brown said. "We are ahead of the curve. And we are proud of that."

He said that opening the three schools is what the community wanted and added that the district would have had to husband away the $1.64 million to open the schools at a later date anyway.

Opposite situation

In contrast to Temecula Valley's situation, the Murrieta Valley Unified School District is facing severe overcrowding in some of its elementary schools. For example, Buchanan Elementary School is expected to top 1,300 students next year. Very few Temecula elementary schools come close to reaching that population.

The divergent situations prompted Murrieta Valley Trustee Kris Thomasian to wonder how Temecula stays ahead of the enrollment pace.

"I'd like to know how Temecula is facing a situation where they are questioning whether to open schools," Thomasian said in a recent interview, adding that she would prefer Murrieta faced such a predicament.

By the numbers

A look at the 2005-06 elementary school student populations with the opening of three elementary schools in August, and what the populations would be without the schools opening, according to district figures.

Site If all 3 open If no La Vorgna If no Tobin If no Crowne Hill

Alamos 882 1,175 882 889

Abby Reinke 925 925 925 1,123

Barnett 651 777 651 653

Crowne Hill* 591 591 819 0

French Valley 893 1,150 893 894

Jackson 733 733 875 733

La Vorgna* 676 0 676 676

Nicolas Valley 1,009 1,009 1,009 1,009

Paloma 709 709 723 709

Pauba Valley 789 789 864 789

Rancho 789 789 789 789

Red Hawk 808 808 808 820

Sparkman 481 481 648 632

Temecula 750 750 750 750

Tobin* 632 632 0 632

Vail 697 697 697 862

Vintage Hills 964 964 970 1,019

Total 12,979 12,979 12,979 12,979

Average size 763 811 811 811

* Indicates campus opens in August.

Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or jkabbany@californian.com.