Bentonville School District hires demographic firm

BENTONVILLE — The Bentonville School District has hired a demographer to help with enrollment projections.

RSP and Associates, a firm based in Overland Park, Kan., will perform both an enrollment analysis and an attendance boundary analysis at a total cost of $60,000.

“I think there will be a lot of benefit as we plan our growth and try to understand where our district is going to grow,” said Kelly Carlson, the Bentonville School Board’s vice president Tuesday, when members approved hiring the firm.

Bentonville is a rapidly growing school district. Enrollment as of Oct. 1 was 18,536, which is up more than 30% from 10 years ago.

The district has built and opened several new schools during that time. The next new building, Vaughn Elementary School, is scheduled to open this fall at Southwest Barron and Opal roads, near the Benton County Fairgrounds.

This is not the first time the district has sought help for a demographics study. Bentonville hired Jack Schreder and Associates of Sacramento, Calif., to do such a study in 2013.

Data collection will begin immediately and RSP will provide some kind of presentation to the board in May, Hoover said.

The enrollment analysis — using five-year and 10-year enrollment projections — will answer questions related to school building use and enrollment, population shifts and demographic trends, and how that information affects students throughout the district, according to RSP’s written proposal. The analysis will identify trends and areas where challenges may occur or growth can be anticipated.

In the boundary analysis, RSP will develop and examine future zoning options that would meet the district’s objectives, according to the firm’s proposal.

The Kansas firm also has worked recently with the Bryant School District in central Arkansas, providing an enrollment analysis at a time when Bryant was opening two new schools, according to the firm’s proposal.

RSP and Associates was founded in 2003 and has helped more than 130 clients in 11 states throughout the Midwest, the proposal states.