New Schools Coming To Growing Wesley Chapel

By Matt Wiley

It’s no secret that Wesley Chapel (WC) has seen serious growth the past several years. In fact, the growth has been so significant that the area’s schools once again are struggling to keep up with the amount of students who continue to enroll in them, as more and more families arrive and expect their students to attend specific schools near their homes. 

Dist. 1 Pasco County School Board member Allen Altman, who represents four of Wesley Chapel’s schools on the Board, told the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) at the group’s Economic Development Briefing luncheon at Hoosier’s Grill (located inside the semi-public Heritage Isles Country Club off Cross Creek Blvd. in New Tampa) that parents too often believe that their kids are guaranteed to attend a specific school based upon where they live. But, Altman says, that assumption is a fallacy.

“I was having breakfast with a developer recently and he told me that nine families in his development had bought homes, sold them and moved across the street because they heard that their student could attend a specific school if they lived on the other side of the street,” Altman (photo) said. “I just want to stand before you today and let you know that you can’t grow like this county has grown —  and like we’ve continued to grow this year — and think that there aren’t going to be new schools, that (existing) school boundaries won’t (have to) be redrawn and that there won’t be transfers. It’s impossible.”

Each time a new school opens, Altman said school zone boundaries have to be redrawn and students many times are required to move to a different school to help with capacity issues. Such was the case when Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) opened to provide relief for Wesley Chapel High (WCH), as well as at each elementary and middle school that has opened in our area the past few years. 

Currently, there are more than 69,000 students in the Pasco County School District (PCSD), which also is the county’s largest employer (with more than 9,800 employees). Altman said that in the years leading up to the “Great Recession” in 2008, PCSD’s enrollment was growing at an average of 10 students per day, a level that would require one new elementary school each year, in order to have enough room for new students. Enrollment slowed down with the economy, actually decreasing by 350 students in 2011-12, but began to pick up again going into the 2012-13 school year, with 460 new students.

“In the 2013-14 school year, (PCSD) grew by 950 students, and this year, it’s grown by more than 1,000,” Altman explained, adding that next school year’s projections show about 1,200 new students. According to data from PCSD’s Planning director Chris Williams, when all of the future developments in our area are built out (Wiregrass Ranch, Chapel Crossings, Union Park, Wesley Chapel Lakes and Wyndfields in WC, plus Two Rivers and River Landing along Morris Bridge Rd.), our area is looking at nearly 14,000 more students!

Altman’s presentation showed that, in Pasco County, 39 percent of the schools currently in service were built between 1998 and 2010, and that, in the past 12 years, alone, PCSD has built 31 schools at an average of about three schools per year, 10 of which have been in WC. Since 2002, PCSD has spent $301 million building new schools.

“The growth is just unbelievable,” Altman said. “If we didn’t have the Penny (for Pasco, the one-cent sales tax that helps raise money for education, transportation and other infrastructure costs), we’d be in desperate straits.”

Altman said that when the first round of the Penny started in 2004, Sand Pine Elementary in Meadow Pointe was at 186-percent of its 525-student capacity. 

“We’ve made a great dent in (the capacity issues), and we’ve built some more schools,” Altman said.

However, even though 10 schools have been built in WC since 1998, several still are operating way above capacity. For example, WRH currently is operating at 149-percent of its 1,633-student capacity and will begin 10-period days next school year, while Seven Oaks Elementary is operating at 174 percent of 674-student capacity.

For that reason, over the next three school years, two new schools will be constructed in the WC area, Altman said, although finding sites for them hasn’t been easy. Plus, the newly renovated Quail Hollow Elementary will reopen for the 2015-16 school year and its previous boundaries will go back into effect.

“Finding school sites is tough and expensive,” he explains. “There are districts (like Orange County in Orlando) that have spent more money on one school site than we spend on four or five. The sites have to have acreage and (have the necessary road capacity in place) to handle the increased traffic. We’ve tried to get ahead of (the growth).”

For the 2016-17 school year, a new elementary (currently referred to as Elementary School “W”) will open next to Dr. John Long Middle School in the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI), that will have capacity for 762 students. The new elementary will affect the boundaries of students who currently attend Double Branch, Seven Oaks and, potentially, Sand Pine elementaries. 

In addition, a new high school (currently called “GGG”) also will be built at Old Pasco Rd. near Overpass Rd. and have capacity for 1,878 students. Site work should begin this September and the school is tentatively planned to open for the 2017-18 school year. The new high school will impact the boundaries of students attending WCH, WRH and incoming freshmen from Thomas E. Weightman Middle School.

 The Old Pasco Rd. site also has enough space for a future middle school (“HHH”), although no development timeline has yet been established. Other future schools to be built in Wesley Chapel with no set timeframes include Middle School “II” on Meadow Pointe Blvd. and Elementary School “U” in Northwood. Eight other future schools also are planned in other areas across the county.

For more information about future schools, please visit Pasco.k12.fl.us.