To respond to population shifts and lay the groundwork for upgrading schools to better serve combined school communities, Canyons School District is launching a boundary and enrollment study involving eight elementary schools.
The study is a proactive step to ensure all students continue to benefit from safe, well-maintained schools with strong academic programs, while being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. With some schools operating below capacity, consolidation may be necessary to balance class sizes and provide equitable access to academic opportunities.
Stressing the process will be cautious, thorough, and transparent, the Canyons Board of Education on May 6 authorized the review, marking the beginning of a sustained effort to gather community input. A newly launched web portal on the Canyons District website will keep the Canyons community apprised of progress with the review.
“Our commitment as a District is to gather as much information and feedback as possible from families, employees, students, and taxpayers, with the goal being to move forward in a way that best serves students,” said Canyons Superintendent Dr. Rick Robins. “The communication and community engagement plan we have in place is designed to inform the process from the ground-up.”
Boundary studies are never undertaken lightly, but sometimes are necessary to respond to enrollment imbalances.
“While enrollment is stable at many of our schools, some are seeing fewer school-aged children, due to declining birth rates and rising housing costs,” said Canyons Business Administrator Leon Wilcox. “This study will help us determine where schools might need to be combined or even rebuilt to better serve all students.”
K-12 enrollment is falling nationally and is projected to continue to fall through, at least, 2031. Utah is no different. Once an outlier known for its unmatched fertility rate, Utah is also seeing a decline in its birth rate. This, coupled with soaring housing costs, is contributing to a drop in the school-aged population in Utah. These trends are so pronounced that, even though Canyons is capturing a growing share of the school-aged children who live within the District, enrollment is declining at some elementary schools.
The first phase of the study will be a comprehensive review of enrollment projections for eight under-enrolled elementary schools, looking at birth rates, new home sales, and new residential developments.
The District’s Long-Range Planning Committee will then propose possible solutions for balancing enrollments, taking into consideration the condition of school buildings with the broad purpose of planning and financing school improvements.
The following priorities will guide the committee’s work:
- Maintain class sizes and access to academic opportunities
- Fairly distribute funding and staffing
- Maximize the use of taxpayer-funded school buildings
- Keep neighborhoods together, ensuring safe routes to school
- Plan for projected fluctuations in enrollment
- Plan for future school facility needs, repairs, and upgrades
- Consolidate schools, if necessary
Throughout the study, families will have many opportunities to give input, ask questions, and stay informed.
Detailed descriptions of any recommendations that are made will be published on the boundary study web portal, providing patrons ample time to give feedback online and in-person at School Community Council meetings, Open House events, and public hearings. Notices will be mailed to families with home addresses that could possibly be affected by proposed changes.
“It has been more than a decade since we reviewed elementary boundaries, and we want this process to be open and inclusive of everyone’s best ideas,” Wilcox said.
Questions? Please email communications@canyonsdistrict.org or visit canyonsdistrict.org.
