SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Board OKs Schedule to Build 10 Schools

Ten new schools will be constructed in the Capistrano Unified School District in the next two years under a schedule approved Monday by the district’s trustees.

More than half of the estimated $87.1 million needed for construction costs and land purchases would come from state funds and developer fees paid to the district for construction of homes and commercial properties.

The balance would be raised under the state’s Mello-Roos legislation, setting up a special tax paid to a school district by property owners to finance development in a particular area.

District officials hope that the new schools will absorb a booming student population, which is projected to grow at a rate of 6% to 8% a year over the next seven years.

“It would be my hope that if the district could hold portables (temporary classrooms) and boundary changes to a minimum next year, we can get enough (schools) under construction,” Assistant Supt. Bill Dawson told the trustees.

The board will consider funding for each school site individually, but on Monday paved the way for officials to complete an elementary school in Rancho Santa Margarita. The trustees also authorized plans for two elementary schools, a junior high and a high school in the Aliso Viejo/Mission Viejo area, and two elementary schools in the Laguna Niguel area.

Trustees also agreed to allocate funds to purchase a site for an elementary school in the San Juan Capistrano area, and approved an architect’s drawings for a junior high school and an elementary school in the San Clemente area.

The district now owns all of its school sites except for one in San Juan Capistrano, which it plans to purchase for an elementary school with $2.1 million in state funds.

The new schools will bring the district’s total to 27, plus four adult education centers.