Less Land, Smaller Schools

JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - With available acreage for new schools disappearing fast and student populations skyrocketing, the Mat-Su Borough School Board voted recently to define the minimum land size for all new schools.

The new minimums are considerably smaller than the old standards, but Chief School Administrator Bob Doyle told the school board that times are changing and land is running out.

"If you don't start looking at creative ideas, you're going to have serious problems responding to growth in this Valley," he told the school board. "We're no longer in a situation where land is cheap."

The current borough standards recommend 30 to 40 acres for elementary schools, 55 to 85 acres for middle schools and 85 to 135 acres for high schools. Those standards often leave lots of idle land that are not used for school purposes.

The newly approved minimums allow 15 acres for elementary schools, 28 acres for middle schools and 32 acres for high schools. The policy allows certain mission schools such as alternative and charter schools to be built even smaller for fewer students. The new lot sizes for standard schools align closely with statewide standards - a move the district said is necessary.

Some of the largest school lots in the district are currently for elementary schools. Tanaina Elementary sits on 80 acres and Trapper Creek Elementary is located on a 57-acre lot. Doyle said those sizes are too large, given the current land shortage.

"If the board wants to keep 60 to 80 acres at elementary schools when we're only having a footprint of about 20, they're going to have to question how much of that land we are going to set aside for school purposes," he said. "We're not even using it for school purposes - it's just idle land."

Kim Floyd, the district's information specialist, said additional land around current schools could be swapped for school sites that may be needed in other areas.

Despite the smaller school acreage, Floyd said there would still be land enough for outdoor playgrounds and recreation areas. Iditarod Elementary is the smallest elementary school in the district at just over 11 acres - 69 acres smaller than Tanaina Elementary - and still has room enough for a playground and outdoor ice rink/basketball court.

The growing land shortage has caused the district to look for space in a variety of ways.

"We're looking for land donations, and there's people who think we're crazy to be talking about that kind of stuff," Doyle said.

"But I think times have changed."

In addition to the new lot size minimums, the school board also approved limits on new school population sizes. New population limits are 500 students for elementary schools, 800 students for middle schools and 1,200 for high schools. The stated policy goal is to support "high performance schools with small learning communities."

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266, or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.