Facts >> Massive Development and Impact on Schools

Under the proposed Patterson development plan and the approved Tupelo lot development, the children of 3000+ residents would further burden an overcrowded and underfunded school system. Our schools are already suffering from cuts to science, PE and computer teachers, counselors, and librarians. Class sizes already have increased and the school year shortened. Funding for Fremont schools is so poor that a parcel tax will be considered by Fremont residents.

Both Thornton Junior High and American High School are over capacity¹. "If the number of students from the Patterson development cannot be accommodated at these schools, or if the necessary expansion is not feasible or recommended, the District may be required to resort to more difficult accommodations with wider-ranging effects such as assigning students to other campuses, adjusting attendance area boundaries, modifying District programs, or changing school scheduling to year-round calendars to increase usable capacity."²

Thus, families of students already in these and other Fremont schools would suffer. What happens to quality of education if steps described above were implemented?

Regarding Fremont Unified School District’s capacity, K-6 is at 99.34%, junior high is at 97.05%, and senior high is at 97.05%.¹ All it takes is overdevelopment, some normal wear and tear breakdown in some of the facilities, and schools will be over 100% capacity. Parents, teachers, and students will then have to be concerned about the consequences of overcrowding rather than education.

The Patterson development proposal shows a shortfall of $10.4 million, which assumes State funding being available for building an elementary school. But in a "worst case" scenario, which assumes payment of developer impact fees, no State grants (since it is never certain that State funding will be available for capital projects), and no contribution of a school site, the Patterson proposal results in a $16.6 million shortfall.² Neither of these cases deal with the problem of ongoing maintenance, or teacher salaries and benefits (80% of a school's costs). Thus, for all Fremont residents, the problem of educating the new students could be very expensive.

¹Source: Fremont Unified School District.
²Bay Area Economics. Northern Plain Planning Area Initiative Fiscal Analysis. June 2006. Pages 56, 60.