At most S.A. schools, growth rarely ceases

Warming up for the school year: Teachers get energized at the Spirit of the Northside event as the 2012 school year began for Northside School District. Warming up for the school year: Teachers get energized at the Spirit of the Northside event as the 2012 school year began for Northside School District. Photo: San Antonio Express-News Photo: San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close At most S.A. schools, growth rarely ceases 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

As San Antonio's population grows, so does the demand for more schools.

Keeping up with growth can pose challenges for some of the area's public school districts and 25-plus charter districts, especially those in northern Bexar County and closer to the Eagle Ford shale energy boom to the south.

Compounding the challenge is the ongoing argument in recent years between school districts and state lawmakers over the adequacy of public education funding.

The fastest-growing ones, such as Northside, North East, Judson, Southwest and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City independent school districts, have relied on bond funding to keep facilities at pace with a swelling population.

During the 2011-2012 two-year state budget, they increased their class sizes, asking the state for special permission to do that for a record number of K-4 classrooms.

Northside, San Antonio's largest school district, is a good example of the intersection between growing numbers of students and less funding.

The district is expected to reach a record 100,000 students this fall and is building several new schools. It gained 5,000 students between 2010 and 2012 while cutting its budget by $61.4 million and asking the state for more than 600 class size waivers to handle the growth.

District officials say the restored funding will help them likely avoid class size waivers.

Northside has held successful bond elections every three years since 1995, persuading voters to approve more than $2.5 billion for construction programs. It was able to break that cycle with belt-tightening and lower post-recession construction costs but plans to ask voters in 2014 for a bond that would help build its first new high school in years.

Voters in two other growing school districts, Judson and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City, approved bonds in May's elections to also help tackle their needs.

“In Northwest Bexar County, we have communities for every kind of income level, ” said Northside spokesman Pascual Gonzalez. “You have multimillion-dollar communities on one side of town and more humble starter homes in another part, so there is something for everyone.”

While Northside still has plenty of room to build with an area only 55 percent developed, neighboring North East ISD is more landlocked.

The city's second-largest school district, with about 68,000 students, opened two elementary schools this year, and a new middle school on Bulverde Road near Loop 1604 is on its way. But district officials said they have no active plans to build beyond that, as the newer schools were designed to accommodate future growth.

Districts south of the city are also seeing more students. Southwest ISD enrollment is swelling with rising manufacturing plants and the oil and gas drilling that has ramped up in nearby counties. Now around 13,024 students, Southwest added about 600 in each of the past two years — the same period that saw it lose almost $12 million to the Legislature's education cuts.

Voters there overwhelmingly approved a $165 million bond last year that will allow the district to make multiple improvements to existing schools and add a new high school and middle school.

Harlandale ISD has added more than 300 new elementary school students as it wrapped up projects from two school bonds.

Despite the challenges, several of the growing districts, including Northside, North East, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City, Harlandale and Southwest, have attained top accountability ratings from the state. Some received recognition as among the top districts in the state in H-E-B's Excellence in Education awards.

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