Influx of new students may cause tax increase

New housing developments in the West Chester area are expected to bring many new students to district

WEST WHITELAND » The West Chester Area School District has become a coveted location for homebuilders.

Those new homes will add more students to the district, with a possible small tax increase, Superintendent Dr. Jim Scanlon said at Monday’s school board meeting.

“We have seen more than 2,700 residential units approved in our school district during the past 18 months,” Scanlon said. “We need to plan for the growth in the number of students we anticipate will

be attending our schools from these residences in the next five years.

“Developers are starting to build here again. It’s a desirable place for people to raise families.”

The district currently enrolls 11,928 students, with a projected increase to 12,677, by school year 2023-24. About 500 of those students will attend elementary schools.

Enrollment had recently dropped to 11,400. The birth rate was down and there was not a lot of construction, Scanlon said.

The superintendent pointed to the Department of and Education and individual township approval processes as reasons the district has to look so far down the road. The district is considering expansion at existing schools.

“The sites are somewhat small,” Scanlon said. “We can build on the space but can’t park the cars.”

Fourteen years ago, the district bought a 24-acre property at the Greenhill Road and Route 100 intersection, behind the Wawa. The district refers to the property as “Henderson North.”

The district was planning ahead for a projected, and now approved, 598home West Goshen subdivision at the Greystone Estate. Hundreds of students from the proposed subdivision are expected to flood classrooms.

“A house can get built in 90 days, but it takes us three years to build a school,” Scanlon said. “We can’t build fast enough.”

The district has suggested three options to address the growth. Some of the renovations and construction are already underway:

• Option 1: Build a new 850-student elementary school at Henderson North and close Mary C. Howse Elementary School, while adding 22 classrooms. The average annual cost to property owners with a home assessed at the average value of $189,000 would be $6.82.

• Option 2: Add 37 classrooms at current elementary schools, including 8 classrooms each at both Exton and Fern Hill elementary schools. Annual tax increase of $6.54.

• Option 3: Build a 500 student elementary school at Henderson North and add 16 classrooms to existing schools. Average cost would be $6.95.

Current operational capacity in the elementary schools is 5,045, with a current enrollment of 5,344. The peak enrollment over 20 years is expected to crest at 5,925. In 2025, the district will require an added 880 seats.

Current middle school operational capacity now stands at 2,957, with enrollment currently at 2,825, with a peak enrollment over the next 20 years at 3,214. Middle school enrollment will peak in 2028, with an additional 257 seats needed.

Current high school enrollment stands at 3,760, with a current operational capacity of 4,486. The district will require 65 fewer seats in the three high schools.

Plans call for 1,502 new apartments, 528 carriage houses, 581 single family homes and 188 townhomes, for a total of 2,798 new homes in the district.

Three hundred apartments, 107 carriage houses and 10 single family homes are planned at Tague Farm in East Bradford.

Approval was given to build 45 single-family homes in Thornbury, while the West Chester Borough might host 87 new single family homeowners.

Greystone might is the site of 17 now-under-construction single-family homes. The plan to build 261 active adult, 110 carriage homes and 151 single family homes, 28 estate homes and 48 townhomes at Greystone was approved.

Thirteen-hundred homes and apartments are slated for construction in West Whiteland.

In December, Westtown supervisors voted down a conditional use plan for Crebilly Farm. If a court challenge is made, and is successful, residents might see more than 300 new homes.

School district presentations on school expansion will occur at Peirce Middle School, on Monday Jan. 29, at 6:30 p.m., and on Wednesday Jan. 31, at 6:30 p.m., at Stetson Middle School. For more information go to www.wcasd. net.

“A house can get built in 90 days, but it takes us three years to build a school. We can’t build fast enough.” — Superintendent Dr. Jim Scanlon