How Much will each Portable Classroom Cost Us?

Dixie Schools will need 3-7 portable classrooms at $150,000 each to accomodate expected student increase

At the Tuesday, 12/4/2012 meeting at Mary Silvera School with Bridge Housing estimates that Marinwood Village development will only have 60 school children in 82 apartments.  This was revised from a previous estimate of 150 children.   The actual number, ages and needs of children for this development  varies widely but we can agree that at least 3-7 portable classrooms will be needed for Mary Silvera and Miller Creek Middle School.

How much does a Portable Classroom cost?

According to the link above a portable classrooms could cost $125,000 plus transportation, installation, site preparation, wiring at an estimated cost of $150,000 each.  The total cost for 3 to 6 units is $450,000 to $1,000,000 plus the loss of playground or parking spaces. 

The 82 unit Marinwood Village will pay a one time "school impact fee" of $200,000 according to Brad Wilban,  VP.  This  barely pays for one portable classroom.  This figure does not include fees for teachers, special education, books, after school care and administrative overhead. See a seperate posting for yearly cost of teaching each child.

We can expect a significant increase in Dixie school fees to pay for the needed classroom improvements.

At the minimum, we will have to pay for the shortfall of "school impact fees" that does not actually pay for the full cost of adding 60-150 children into our schools.

We may even be required to build a new school for the added enrollment.    In the 1990s, the school on Idylberry now housing the Waldorf School was leased out due to decling enrollment. It was a short sighted move that ignored natural fluctuations of school age population and future growth. If all six of the low income projects in the 2012 Housing Element are built we could be housing as much as 1000 new school children.  We will need several new schools.

Where will we build these new schools?  How much will this cost? 

The Bridge Housing proposal is not ready for appoval until the full impact of the development is discussed and we have a realistic plan to grow our schools.

And the Board of Supervisors are considering FIVE MORE low income developments for Marinwood Lucas Valley in the 2012 Housing element.  We can assume that each one will have similar financial burdens.

Join us for community discussions on Mondays about how we will meet these challenges.  Contact all of the Supervisors to pause approval of Marinwood Plaza until we have develop a community plan to address this growth.

Sign the petition linked at the top of this page.