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What are the Beaverton School District and Washington County doing to prevent school overcrowding?

Mon., Feb. 13, 7 pm, Terra Linda School cafeteria, 1998 NW 143rd Ave.

A joint meeting for residents of CPO 1 & 7 (from Cedar Hills to Bethany) will be held to address this important question. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Rapid recent growth of residential development in the area—including North Bethany and Bonny Slope West—has left many schools overcrowded. Students are experiencing short and early lunchtimes, abbreviated recess, classes carried on in hallways and other non-classroom spaces, and large class sizes.

Photo Credit: TIMES PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ - Eighth-grade students at Stoller Middle School eat lunch in a packed cafeteria.

Before a new development is approved in Washington County, letters are sent to the various Service Districts determining if they’ll be able to serve the new users. For over a year, Beaverton School District (BSD) has been declining to mark either the “yes” or “no” box on these Service Provider Letters (SPLs). They attach letters explaining the overcrowding.

For example, in a December 2015 letter to the county, Deputy Superintendent Ron Porterfield wrote, ”The district anticipates that as a result of the completed school construction and reconstruction projects and attendance boundary adjustments, sufficient capacity will be available to serve the elementary and high school population generated by the proposed [Arbor at Bonny Slope West] residential development beginning in Fall 2017. Sufficient capacity to serve the middle school population…will be available in Fall 2020.” Although sufficient middle school capacity wasn’t expected to be available until 2020, this development application was approved. See the November Cedar Mill News for more information.

This capacity information was submitted by BSD for a recent Bethany development.

Newly appointed BSD Administrator for Long Range Planning Steven Sparks will join Melissa DeLyser, Communications Coordinator, Washington County Department of Land Use & Transportation in a panel discussion that will be moderated by Mike Dahlstrom, Washington County Community Engagement Program Manager. Attendees will receive handouts with background information, which will also be distributed electronically to CPO members via email prior to the meeting. To sign up as a member of your CPO, visit the County Administration Office website.

The panel discussion will be followed by ample time for audience questions, beginning at 8:15.

Topics include:

• School Construction Excise Taxes (CET): what they are and what they pay for.

• State laws that allow for a residential development to be denied based upon lack of school capacity (SB 336-ORS 195.110).

• The 2010 BSD Facility Plan, written during the recession when residential growth was slow.

• Critical vs. Essential Service: State law says that schools are essential, not critical. What effect does that have, and should that be changed? (see Section 501-7, Levels of Public Facilities and Services)

• Service Provider Letters: Why does BSD decline to “check a box,” and how is the county responding?

Looking forward: 

• Cooperative Agreement between BSD and Washington County

• State Joint Interim Task Force on Class Sizes

• A possible new round of BSD bonds

• and the BSD Futures Study that was originally scheduled to be released last month

These are complicated issues. CPO1 and CPO7 hope to offer an opportunity for the community to come together, learn about, and discuss these issues in a comfortable forum, as well as giving the responsible agencies a chance to hear the concerns of our neighbors. They are trying to bring the public to the table in the ongoing exploration of how to solve the problem that affects everyone in the area, whether you have school-age children or not.

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