Eureka Union School District trustees have approved plans to close two campuses, add a charter school, revamp curriculum and reconfigure grade levels at all campuses.
The long-range plans - OK'd by the board last week - are designed to help the Granite Bay-based district address its four years of declining enrollment and subsequent $600,000 loss in state funding. Excelsior and Eureka elementary schools in Roseville will close in fall 2009, saving the district $900,000 a year, Superintendent Bob Schultz said. The school property will be leased.
A proposed district-sponsored charter school - focused on "global learning" - is scheduled to open in August 2009 on a campus now shared by Oakhills and Ridgeview elementary schools in Granite Bay.
The approved plans were among 10 recommendations from a task force composed of educators and community members and organized to look for long-term solutions for the district's funding shortage.
"Ten months of planning has resulted in the beginning of phase two for implementing those plans," board President Jerri Davis said. District officials are banking on the revamped curriculum and charter school to help bolster enrollment and slow the loss in state funding.
Advisory groups will form in the fall to work on details about changes in curriculum and other programs, Schultz said.
A petition for the proposed charter school is scheduled to be presented to the board June 17.
The board also expects to appoint a new district superintendent at the meeting. Schultz will retire after 36 years in education, including the past four with the district.
Call Lakiesha McGhee at (916) 773-7630.
