Optimal School Sites

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The high-resolution student population forecast allows the Operations Research and Education Laboratory (OREd) to use modern operations research techniques to determine optimal locations for new schools.

Optimal siting for new schools can be especially important for growing districts and those about to seek voter approval for school construction funds. OREd uses operations research techniques to construct scenarios meeting the criteria set by the school system. The usual optimization criteria is to minimize transportation costs while maintaining all other school board policies pertaining to such matters as school capacity, socio-economic balance, academic balance, demographic balance, and grade structure.

The output of this Integrated Planning for School and Community (IPSAC) process is a set of maps or scenarios with the optimal target sites for new schools that is in concert with forecasted capacity demands and satisfies the school system’s policies.

Read description of this map and view larger image in printable PDF format. (95 KB)*

The map shows the optimal siting for a new elementary school in a district that has experienced significant and sustained residential growth. Anticipated new residential developments influence the location of the optimal school sites as well as the capacity of impacted schools and the need for a demographically balanced student population.

*PDF document - requires Adobe Reader.