MISSION VIEJO : School Is Demanded for Foothill Ranch

About 50 parents from the Foothill Ranch community packed a Saddleback Valley Unified School District meeting this week, demanding that board members speed up plans to build an elementary school in their neighborhood.

Parent Nancy Kirkpatrick said when she first moved into her home in the northern part of Lake Forest last February, she was told that an elementary school would be open by the fall of 1993. Now that date has been pushed back at least another year.

“Parents are concerned about busing costs, they’re concerned about paying taxes and not having a school,” Kirkpatrick told the school board Tuesday night. “A school helps the cohesion of the community. We don’t have that yet, and we’re paying for it.”

Board members assured the residents that they are committed to building the school as soon as the funds are available from the county, which has control of special tax revenues generated in the unincorporated area.

Bob Cornelius, assistant superintendent of business services, said a recessionary slow-down in Foothill Ranch housing sales has been the main cause of the delay in getting the funds. The county can only release the tax funds in the form of a bond when the land reaches a certain value, which has not yet happened because of the recession.

“We keep getting closer and closer, but it’s been a hard act,” Cornelius said. “Some of these efforts are going more slowly than we would have imagined.”

About 200 Foothill Ranch youngsters attend three district elementary schools, the closest of which is five miles away. A bus pass in the district costs $365 per student.

A preliminary survey also indicates there are at least 100 additional children in the housing development who are attending private schools, Kirkpatrick said.

About 800 households in the development are occupied at this time.

“I think the board is committed to community schools and would like to see ours built, but the board is wrestling with a lot of other issues right now,” Kirkpatrick said. “The real challenge is making certain everyone stays on target.”