School Site Boundary Changes

Due to new home construction in the city of San Luis Obispo, some of our city  elementary schools (CL Smith, Hawthorne, Los Ranchos) are seeing growth while others are experiencing declining enrollment (Bishop’s Peak and Sinsheimer). With more housing development happening soon, we need to look at updating current school boundaries to even out our student populations.

This does not affect our elementary schools on the coast (Baywood, Monarch Grove, and Del Mar). All our coastal schools have been experiencing declining enrollment for the past few years, likely due to lack of development and higher housing costs. This also does not affect Teach or Pacheco, as those are “schools of choice” and do not have specific boundaries.

The district hired King Consulting, Inc., demographers who specialize in this work, to explore possible boundary adjustments. The Board held a study session on April 11, 2024 where Rob Murray from King Consulting presented information on historical enrollments, US Census population demographics, birth rate trends, existing cohort trends, development, and spatial analysis of elementary residents and enrollment. 

At the May 16, 2024 Board Study Session, Mr. Murray presented the Board with three boundary adjustment options. After much discussion, the Board narrowed down the three possible scenarios to Option 3 and gave consensus on the criteria for a potential boundary update that would balance the school populations with the least impact:

1. Balance out student populations at sites, based on the size of the site;
2. Boundaries that make sense geographically and for transportation;
3. Demographics;
4. Lowest overall impact; and
5. Grandfather in any changes (current students and their incoming siblings can remain at site). 

By grandfathering in the boundaries, there are no impacts on current students, or their incoming siblings. It will change the boundaries for families currently not attending SLCUSD schools. The change in school populations will not happen overnight; it will take time as new students begin school and current students move on to middle school.

On August 20, 2024, Mr. Murray and I presented information on the demographic changes in San Luis Obispo and the impact it is having on our schools. This presentation included a timeline of next steps. There will be several opportunities for parents and staff to weigh in on the proposed changes. However, I did want to get this information out to parents, staff and the community now to begin our discussions.

• Potential Boundary Change Map

• Detail Maps for Each Potential Change

If you click on the maps above, you’ll see that the current boundaries are:

• Dark Green – Bishop’s Peak

• Peach – Hawthorne 

• Yellow – Sinsheimer 

• Pink – Smith 

• Bright Green – Los Ranchos 

The potential New Boundaries are indicated by the bold lines on the map:

• C.L. Smith: the new boundary would run along Highway 101 – that C.L. Smith area would move to Los Ranchos boundary.

• Hawthorne: Marsh Street and Pismo Street would be the new Bishop’s Peak boundary; those Hawthorne students would move to Bishop’s Peak. 

• Los Ranchos: The new housing by Orcutt Road and Tank Farm would move to Sinsheimer’s boundary.

Results of these changes:

• Reduced enrollment at C.L. Smith Elementary and Hawthorne Elementary Schools; 

• Increased enrollment at Bishop’s Peak Elementary and Sinsheimer Elementary Schools; and; 

• A student population shift at Los Ranchos Elementary School. This boundary change will reduce the population in the short term and allow for future growth as the Los Ranchos Elementary School boundary is where the most future growth is located (Avila Ranch).

If you would like to share any input with the district, please complete the brief survey below. 

Survey