Manatee County schools dealing with overcrowding issues

Manatee County is growing and the local schools are feeling it.

This year, the district said they’re expecting 1,000 more students.

With more homes being built in the area, more students could be on the way, causing overcrowding issues.

One school already seeing this is Virgil Mills Elementary in Palmetto, which already has 1,170 students and are expecting even more to enroll over the next few weeks.

“It’s a little uneasy, we are maxed right now,” said Mike Rio, Principal at Mills.  “There really is no more room.”

Rio said they are functioning at 136-percent capacity.

They have 9 kindergarten classes, 9 first grade classes, 11 second grade classes, 12 third grade classes, 9 fourth grade classes, and 10 fifth grade classes.

Rio said they have more students than any other elementary school in the district.

To help make room for all of the students at the school, they’ve built a new 12 room wing addition, brought in 15 portables and are even using storage space for classrooms.

The school’s registrar, Diane Popovice, said sadly, it may not be enough.

“I think we’re really high right now and it will continue to go up,” said Popovice. "There are at least three new subdivisions that we know are starting.”

Mills is not alone. Other schools are also dealing with overcrowding issues.

To help, the district is considering building more schools and even redistricting, to spread out students to less crowded schools in the area.

A consultant is working on a plan and a report is expected in January.

But, the district needs money to pay for new schools.

School leaders are hoping the community will step up and help.

“There will probably come a time when there is a request for a tax referendum,” said Rio.  “I just hope they will support that for the good of all of our kids so we can build some new schools out here.”

Rio said if a new school in his area isn’t built soon, he’ll be forced to make some difficult decisions.

He said they’ve talked about taking over the music and art rooms for classes.

These teachers would instead visit individual classes for their time with the students.

He also said to make things work this year, he’ll be forced to break the class size amendment for some groups.

He said he hopes something is done soon and worries being so overcrowded could affect the quality of students’ education.

The school district has not collected impact fees on new construction since July 2009. This money helps pay for costs associated with building new schools.

According to the Florida Department of Education, in 2002, citizens approved an amendment to the Florida Constitution that set limits on the number of students in core classes (Math, English, Science, etc.) in the state's public schools. Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, the maximum number of students in each core class would be:

• 18 students in prekindergarten through grade 3;
• 22 students in grades 4 through 8; and
• 25 students in grades 9 through 12.

Class Size Implementation Budget

The Florida Legislature appropriated more than $25 billion toward operational expenses and $2.5 billion in facilities funding to implement the Class Size Amendment