Union County Public Schools answers questions about enrollment caps

Source: UCPS web site

As a follow up to the story regarding the school enrollment caps in the Union County Public School system, we found a few questions on theUCPS web site's FAQ page interesting:

Why don’t you stop the building in the crowded areas? Why don’t you communicate with the builders?

The school system is not involved in the issuing of building permits. The Board of County Commissioners governs land use zoning and development approval within unincorporated Union County. The responsibility for land use designation, zoning or development approval in the 14 municipalities rests with the applicable municipal government. Once a developer and/or resident obtain approval from a municipality, the county government’s role is to issue the building permit and to perform the applicable inspections. The county performs these services for all municipalities with the exception of Monroe and Waxhaw. The role of the school system is to enroll/educate any child living within Union County whose parent/guardian chooses to avail themselves of public education.

How does the school system work with local governments with regards to growth? 

The UCPS Facilities staff has tried to attend meetings in municipalities when asked to do so. Our Facilities staff has also met with developers when we have been asked to offer our input. We have felt obligated on each occasion to inform a municipality or realtor as to how potential growth will affect a school’s seating capacity and core capacity (which will, in turn, affect our schools’ ability to educate potential students). Essentially, UCPS has no control over how many houses are built, when they are built, where they are built, who buys those houses, or even if children will be occupying those houses. We are called upon to react to the growth based upon information collected and compiled by a demographer and information provided by municipalities, the County, market trends, etc. UCPS tries to be as forthcoming as possible when offering data about capacities (both core and seating) to the County and to municipalities. The school system “reacts” to growth instead of “managing” it.

This was taken directly from the UCPS web site. For more information about the recent changes and enrollment caps, please contact us at 704.575.7605!