PLACENTIA YORBA LINDA : 7-Year Plan Unveiled for School District

A seven-year spending plan for the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District presented earlier this week includes provisions for a new elementary school in Yorba Linda and moving sixth-grade students to Kraemer Middle School.

But the plans proposed expenditures of more than $27 million, far more than the estimated income of about $17 million from developer fees and redevelopment income. District officials conceded they have no alternative funding source in mind, though they hope to develop some. The district budget this year is about $95 million.

“There are a whole list of different avenues we can explore,” said district planner Mike Bailey. “But that is another step in the process. This report merely identifies the need.”

Although the plan has not been approved by the district board, the top priority appears to be a proposal to expand Kraemer Middle School to include sixth-grade students.

Beginning with a $45,000 outlay designated for the current school year to design a larger commons and cafeteria area, the proposed expansion would cost a total of $1.3 million over the next seven school years. It would also add classrooms and other improvements.

The spending plan also includes an allotment of $40,000 in 1995-96 to identify possible sites for a 10-acre elementary school in the eastern part of the district. It would most likely be in the northeast portion of Yorba Linda. During the subsequent three years, the plan allocates $4 million to purchase property, $5.1 million to build the school and $750,000 to furnish and equip it.

While acknowledging that the price tag for the five-page list of projects exceeded the anticipated revenue from school-designated developer fees, district officials nonetheless called the proposals essential.

Other proposed projects include renovation and expansion of Esperanza High School in Anaheim, renovation of Bradford Stadium at Valencia High in Placentia and the addition of high-tech labs to each of the district’s high schools and middle schools.