SCHOOLS Declining enrollment changes building plans

There will be fewer school buildings, but they will be bigger.
WARREN -- A review by local and state education officials has led to a scaling back of the city schools' building construction plans.
The board of education has decided to build four new schools for kindergarten through the eighth grade, reflecting a continuing drop in enrollment.
The plan had been to build five schools for K-8; one high school also will be built.
The school district's enrollment numbers have plummeted since the schools construction project was first envisioned in 2000, board President Linda H. Metzendorf explained.
A loss of 500 pupils has had a "significant impact" on the building program. Each pupil brings in about $5,200 from the state to the school district.
Some of the enrollment losses are attributed to a new charter school in Warren and open enrollment in other districts, such as Niles, Howland and LaBrae. Also, people are leaving the city.
Basis
"These buildings were based on 1,000 kids each, so really we lost enrollment for half a building," Metzendorf explained.
The school board's finance committee -- Metzendorf and board member Lynn Gibson -- started looking at the enrollment decline in 2003, wondering whether the district would have enough enrollment to support a fifth K-8 building six years from now, when construction had been forecast.
The finance committee members and a consulting firm asked the Ohio School Facilities Commission to look over the numbers and make projections over 10 years, which show that enrollment declines will continue.
The numbers showed it is "in the best interest of the taxpayers of Warren to scale this back and build four K-8 buildings," the board president said.
The new K-8 buildings will each be about 10,000 square feet larger than originally envisioned, she noted. "By scaling down, we're getting bigger buildings."
The Ohio School Facilities Commission is paying 80 percent of the district's $170 million school construction project. The school board borrowed the other money through a bond issue approved by voters.
Savings
Eliminating that fifth building will shave about $17 million from the project; also, the district now won't have to pay to operate that building.
A site for the fifth school was never decided upon, Metzendorf said.
New buildings are slated for the Lincoln Elementary site off Atlantic Street Northeast, and a parcel the board purchased on Parkman Road Northwest next to the Trumbull Plaza.
The board also is looking at the East Junior and Laird Avenue school locations; the fourth site is undetermined.
The board recently got out of a lease for land behind McGuffey Elementary on Tod Avenue Northwest once the site was deemed too wet, Metzendorf noted.