PD-17-00001 Marian Meadows Full Record with Index (2)

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Marian Meadows Rezone and Subdivision Final Environmental Impact Statement 3-132 life-cycle of operation. Typically, a residence occupied by a family composed of younger parents would provide students that start school in kindergarten then move through the 13 grades in the system. If a family stays in a dwelling after children grow beyond school age they do not generate additional students. Most homes are cycled through resale and may again generate students that pass through the school grades. The OSPI utilizes a method for projecting school enrollment known as the K Linear Cohort Survival method. The cohort survival or progression method starts with current enrollments, by grade, and then advances students one grade for each year of the forecast. If a district expects substantial housing development, and has not recently seen any development, enrollments will be underestimated by the cohort survival methodology (OSPI 2008c). For districts experiencing substantial growth, student generation rates are derived from census information or generated by surveys. In addition to the children immediately generated when a new home is built, demand is generated for capacity at higher grades as a student moves through the grades. Enrollment from new development typically peaks 5 to 10 years after occupancy (Burk 2008). For this analysis, student generation rates were developed based on census information and surveys of other school districts in Washington State. Because new housing typically attracts younger families with younger children, the student generation rates are higher for elementary than secondary grades. The generation rates used are designed to match the 2000 census information of 0.71 children per household for the Easton area and are 0.35 for elementary (grades kindergarten through 5), 0.18 for middle school (grades 6 through 8), and 0.18 for high school (grades 9 through 12). Projected student population is provided in Table 3-20 and range from about 260 with Alternative 1 with all full-time residents to about 30 with Alternative 3 and 50 percent seasonal residents. Impacts on Instruction State basic education financing of schools is established by the state legislature through annual appropriation and includes funding for what the state defines as “basic education.” The key to state funding, however, is an apportionment system that is based on a formula for costs that may not actually pay the true cost to the district. In effect, the amount of money allocated by the Legislature is divided up between school districts. They either have to adjust their program to match available state funding, or find additional funding. Items that have been identified as chronic problems in the formula include:  The formula does not typically fund the entire cost of instruction. On average, the state now provides about 70 to 80 percent of needed funds because of the number of items excluded that are seen as necessary by local communities, including the cost of updating instructional supplies, school