SILVER SPRING – After receiving the results of the annual school test – which compares projected student enrollment against projected classroom capacity – the Planning Board yesterday established a development moratorium for three school clusters: Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Clarksburg and Seneca Valley.
The school test, created as part of the biennial Growth Policy and administered through the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO), is prepared by Montgomery County Public Schools staff. The school test compares projected 2014 enrollment figures against classroom capacity for each of the county’s 25 school clusters at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
The 2009 school test results show that number of students expected in 2014 in certain clusters would exceed a 120 percent cap specified in the 2007 APFO. The moratorium limits residential subdivision approvals in overcrowded clusters in an effort to ensure that students generated by newly approved housing units do not exceed the remaining school capacity for students at any grade level. Starting July 1, the Board will not approve residential subdivisions in those three areas unless they are communities for retirees or subdivisions of three or fewer units.
The school test also forecasts overcrowding in 2014 by more than 105 percent in nine school clusters. For those clusters – Walter Johnson, Northwest, Northwood, Paint Branch, Quince Orchard, Rockville, Wheaton, Whitman and Richard Montgomery – developers wishing to get subdivision approval would be required to pay a school facility fee.
Given that the school test is conducted annually, the moratorium is likely to be in place for the next fiscal year. To move out of moratorium, the cluster would need to show a projected drop in enrollment or a projected increase in capacity. Enrollment figures come from school data and projected birth rates. Capacity can increase through the county’s Capital Improvements Program (CIP), which funds public projects like school expansion.
The Montgomery County Council, which decides on the CIP each year, may consider school expansion projects this fall through MCPS recommendations.
The school test is part of the 2009-2011 Growth Policy that the Planning Board will consider this summer. The draft Growth Policy recommends only minimal changes to the school test.
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