WPUSD approves new school boundaries

Western Placer Unified School District on Nov. 4 approved new boundaries for Lincoln Crossing and First Street elementary schools to address upcoming enrollment issues in the Twelve Bridges Middle and High School area. The conversation about the new enrollment began in June 2025 as the district noticed growth incoming for the 2030-31 school year at Twelve Bridges Middle and High. In June, a presentation was shown to the school board stating that Twelve Bridges Middle School is at 88.5 percent enrollment for the 2024-25 school year with 932 students. The current boundaries suggest projected growth would overfill the school at 105.4 percent enrollment with 1,110 students by 2030-31. The presentation stated Twelve Bridges High School sits at 88.4 percent enrollment with 1,312 students for the current school year. The school board is projecting the enrollment to grow to 110.9 percent with 1,647 students by 2030-31. During the June meeting, it was presented to the board that boundaries were going to change to ensure all students had a place to go post elementary. Lincoln Crossing The presentation, which became the official recommendation at the Nov. 4 board meeting, recommended to take Lincoln Crossing Elementary's boundary away from Twelve Bridges Middle and High schools to create space for the upcoming high enrollment. The boundary would reassign those students into Glen Edwards Middle School and Lincoln High School. The Lincoln Crossing Elementary area spoke out against the boundary changes at the district's tour to elementary schools affected by the potential change due to their area paying Mello Roos Community Facilities District cost that provides an alternative method of financing for certain facilities and services. The district's CFDs are paid by Lincoln Crossing, Foskett Ranch and Twelve Bridges residents. It was designed to pay for the construction of Lincoln Crossing Elementary, Foskett Ranch Elementary and Twelve Bridges Elementary. Twelve Bridges Middle was also partially funded by CFDs and by state funding and other district revenue. Twelve Bridges High and Scott M. Leaman Elementary were funded through a district-wide General Obligation Bond and state matching funds, not by CFDs. By state law and school board policy, students living in areas that pay CFDs are given a priority enrollment at a school their CFD helped fund, but they are not given a guarantee. For Lincoln Crossing Elementary students, their CFD priority is getting access to Lincoln Crossing Elementary but not necessarily Twelve Bridges Middle. At the school board's public hearing in October, the district said there were three options they considered before settling on suggesting the new boundaries for Lincoln Crossing. The motion stated the new boundaries would begin with the 2028-29 school year to allow time for planning, communication and a smooth transition for families and staff. First Street With this plan, the school board would need to repurpose First Street Elementary for Glen Edwards Middle School's advantage to make space for the Lincoln Crossing students. At the public hearing, it was stated that First Street Elementary was created a temporary school in 2000 to address Lincoln's sudden growth 25 years ago, which is why the school is made up of portable classrooms that have exceeded their usual lifespan. With the repurposing, First Street would no longer exist and their boundary would be reassigned to Foskett Ranch and Creekside Oaks elementary schools. "To facilitate this transition, the current First Street Elementary School attendance boundaries will be reassigned to neighboring elementary schools," the official recommendation stated. "Students residing north of 5th Street will be assigned to Foskett Ranch Elementary School, while students residing south of 5th Street will be assigned to Creekside Oaks Elementary School." First Street currently has a 74.7-percent enrollment of 381 for the 2024-25 school year. The projected enrollment for 2030-31 would be 382 without the reassignment and 81 students with the reassignment, giving Glen Edwards an opportunity to use its classrooms. The phased conversion of First Street is estimated to begin during the 2027-28 school year. Both motions to change paths for Lincoln Crossing Elementary and First Street Elementary was passed in a 4-1 vote, with Marjorie Proffit being the lone dissenting vote.