Modesto City Schools delays boundary changes. Here’s why and what the future looks like
The Modesto City Schools district has decided not to proceed at this time with a proposed high school attendance boundary change that would have affected fall 2024 incoming freshmen. The news came at Monday night’s Board of Education meeting.
District staff recommended the pause because renovations funded by bond Measure L could significantly affect the high school campuses and potentially alter the distribution of student populations.
“Recognizing the potential disruption that simultaneous boundary changes could cause, the district carefully considered the feedback we received from the community and recommended to the board on Monday to pause the process for now,” district spokeswoman Linda Mumma Solorio said.
In his presentation to trustees, Associate Superintendent of Business Services Tim Zearley said that in community meetings he attended earlier this year, a majority expressed wanting no changes to boundaries. He also said in the High School Boundary study, he found that south Modesto residents preferred Downey’s high attendance and that the issue of busing would remain despite boundary changes. Zearley also said in his report that residents complained Modesto High School’s attendance would be too high with the changes.
Decisions on major Measure L facility improvement projects will not be made until later in this school year, Solorio said, and it may be several years before the changes affect student population in high schools.
“For example, Measures D & E (bond sales for elementary school facilities improvements) were passed in November 2018,” Solorio said, “and all the planned work will not be completed until the 2026-27 school year.”
Though the district does not anticipate revisiting this topic this year, school board members may bring it back up for discussion, Solorio said. “MCS will continue to monitor annual student enrollment patterns within our district, and other elementary feeder districts, to determine whether any boundary changes will be needed to accommodate future high school student populations.”
This story was originally published August 17, 2023 at 12:41 PM.
