Lawrence school board members on Monday approved a new contract with RSP & Associates for an enrollment study.
The consulting firm has done numerous analyses for the district going back to 2011, according to the company’s reports.
For the new contract, consultants will conduct an analysis projecting enrollment at each district facility over the next five to 10 years, according to the agenda.
The contract is for $24,500 for the enrollment analysis, which will be paid through the district’s general fund.
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“The work for the coming months will focus specifically on a study of enrollment trends through a comprehensive study of housing and community development, resulting demographic trends and anticipated impacts and emerging needs in school and district operations,” according to the agenda. “This analysis will provide an essential foundation for informed planning across multiple areas of the district including: enrollment impacts to schools, student services, transportation, food and nutrition services, staffing, and facilities.”
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RSP’s proposal includes an additional $2,500 upon completion of maintenance of an online address locator the company built as part of its last contract.
The contract was on the board’s consent agenda, a list of items that are generally considered routine and approved with one motion unless a board member or the superintendent asks to pull an item for discussion.
The board unanimously approved the item without comment, but afterward, board member Matt Lancaster said he wanted to talk about his vote.
Lancaster said he wasn’t initially interested in rehashing five-year predictions, but there’s a lot of talk around development to the west and south of town, and “some pretty big changes that are really hard to make sense of.”
He said he didn’t think the district had the capacity for employees to parse all the data that RSP will analyze, nor the responsibility to do so. He said he thinks the district needs to plan for five and 10 years out for enrollment and facilities, and to make sure that everybody is supported and represented.
Board member Carole Cadue-Blackwood, who also serves on the district’s Boundary Advisory Committee, said she’d echo Lancaster’s sentiments.
She said even recent reports didn’t include some of the newer developments around town.
“So there is a lot of growth, and also to that end, just — we don’t know what’s going to happen in five to 10 years,” she said.
Cadue-Blackwood said the district is not immune to the Kansas Legislature “overlooking public education,” and she said she’s urging everybody to vote for candidates who support public education.
See the complete contract proposal at this link.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at [email protected]. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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