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Long-Range School Planning Data Added to Growth Resource Center
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Please check out the long-range school planning information on our Growth Resource Center! We now have a whole section dedicated to the school system's work with N.C. State University's Operations Research and Education Laboratory to create an analytical, data-driven process that incorporates land use and future developments into determining the best locations for new schools. This site includes data from the first two phases of the project: an overview of the process, presentations, and maps illustrating student enrollment growth by school level. Data from the next stage should be available at the end of the month.
The student density maps show that through 2012, most growth will take place along the southwestern and northeastern bands of I-540 -- exactly where WCPSS is planning to build schools.
Two years ago, WCPSS contracted with the OR/Ed. Lab at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education. This ongoing long-range school and community planning process involves WCPSS, Wake County government, the 12 municipalities, and the Capital Area Municipal Planning Organization, with the Lab coordinating updates. The new method improves upon the current system by incorporating municipal planning data and projections into school and infrastructure planning, adding GIS technology and operations research methodologies, and projecting school sites beyond a three- or four-year bond cycle.
In spring 2006, the Lab provided enrollment projections, broken down into 39 urban/non-urban service areas across the county, through 2025; these projections will reflect the municipalities' data on land use plans and future developments. The Lab's model will use the Wake County Planning Department's countywide enrollment projections as a baseline, but the forecasted growth will be broken down into smaller geographic areas than what was used previously. School board members and county commissioners will use this data to help determine the locations of new schools to open in 2010 and beyond.
In addition to the projections, the Lab is working with WCPSS to construct an optimization model to generate target areas for school site land banking. By the end of June 2006, the Lab will provide target areas, or circles, for new school locations, as well as student population growth by geographic planning regions, through 2025.
The model will be updated each year to validate and adjust municipalities' assumptions on subdivision build-out rates and to capture new activities.
Posted by Kristin Flenniken at 11:33 AM on June 20, 2006 | Leave Feedback
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