Dive Brief:
- The Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) is issuing developer report cards and awarding grades A-F depending on how much a developer has contributed to help provide adequate classroom space to accommodate children from new housing developments, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
- FUSD grades range from A, for those developers who pay the full cost of extra students, to F, for those who pay only the state-required amount, which, the district said, is based on a 1998 formula and does not cover the costs of adding new students to the school system.
- The state currently requires developers to pay $5.70 per square foot of new construction to offset the costs of additional students, but the FUSD has said it costs $17.22 per square foot to build schools. In addition, Associate Superintendent Raul Parungao told the News that the state is supposed to match the $5.70 fee, but it has not done so.
Dive Insight:
Developers, led by KB Home, are in the process of suing the FUSD for not assigning their new 500-unit housing development to its schools after KB Home refused to pay more than the state requires. The FUSD maintains that there is not room in its schools for additional students and that, currently, 2,000 Fulton children are forced to attend schools outside the district.
The school district seems overwhelmed by the population growth in the Fremont area and is looking to developers to pony up for most, if not all, of the solution.
The FUSD, school board member Larry Sweeney told the News, is "trying to get the word out to let as many people know as possible the situation we're in. We're not receiving the funds we need to build the schools we need for these students."
Board President Desrie Campbell said of the report cards: "Our hands are somewhat tied. I hope developers will partner with us, with the City Council, to do something more for our families. Our students deserve more. We are not anti-developers."