New subdivisions often use schools as major selling points, attracting buyers with visions of safe, clean, uncrowded schools for their youngsters. Sometimes too many. Fast-growing subdivisions have led to crowded classrooms and forced some districts to seek temporary housing for students in the form of portable classrooms until they find a way to pay for a new school.
Every new home adds about half a student to the nearest school.
A dozen homes isn't usually a problem because the six new students they would bring can easily be spread among classrooms. The big housing developments, however, do concern school superintendents. And districts in the western and southern areas of Bakersfield are watching closely as hundreds of homes sprout in fields that formerly grew cotton or carrots. Rosedale Union School District in the northwest has seen the most growth over the last few years and expects another 2,000 to 3,000 new homes in the near future. On average, the district has had to build a new school every other year for the last few years.