Each time a new housing development is proposed in the city, Monroe Schools Superintendent Robert Buskirk said he hears from concerned residents about potential student overcrowding in the district.
“Some housing is good,” Buskirk said. “We do need some of that, but we want to partner with them (city council) and make sure the growth is controlled and it’s beneficial to everyone.”
City Manager Larry Lester said the new school has created “a lot of energy and excitement in the Monroe community” and the city needs to make sure its growth is done “strategically and responsibly.”
Residents believe the “schools will explode” due to the number of construction projects and the additional residents and students they will bring into the city, Buskirk told the Journal-News after the meeting.
But that’s not the case, he said.
The district plans to open a $62 million new high school, which will house grades 9-12, by August 2028 as preliminary design work continues as planned, Buskirk said.
The high school will have a capacity of 850 students, about 50 more than today’s student enrollment.
The district wanted to build a larger high school for potential enrollment growth, but at the same time, not have 10 empty classrooms, he said.
Monroe Schools have more than doubled enrollment to the current 2,850 students since the current 2-12 school building was opened in 2004, according to records.
In January, the district unveiled a $2.5 million gym-to-classrooms conversion facility to help ease some of the overcrowding in the 2-12 grade school.
According to the most recent census, Monroe’s population is 15,000 and is estimated to reach 21,000 by 2040, according to the city’s comprehensive plan.
Matthew Cropper, president of Cropper GIS Consulting, conducted a demographic study for the district that determined 220 new or existing homes are sold in the city every year.
“That’s the number to focus on,” he told those at the meeting.
He said if the city maintains that number — and there are numerous variables, some the city can’t control like interest rates — he doesn’t forecast the district’s enrollment jumping significantly in the next eight years.
Once construction of the new high school nears completion, Cropper said the district may see “a bump” in high school enrollment as families from neighboring districts consider moving into Monroe.
Lester said the total number of residential building permits completed between 2019 and 2025 was 382, or 64 per year once adjustments were made due to the pandemic when new housing stopped.
Cropper suggested that city council “maintain the same rate of approval” for housing developments to control the growth in the city.
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