Supplement A

to the Amended FY 20152020 CIP

October 15, 2014

Superintendents Proposed Changes to

Regulation FAA-RA, Long-range Educational Facilities Planning

Background
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Regulation FAA-RA, Long-range Educational
Facilities Planning, is the regulation that implements Board of Education Policy FAA,
Long-range Educational Facilities Planning. Policies are adopted by the Board of Education,
while regulations are issued by the school system administration. Due to the strong public
interest in long-range educational facilities planning, I am issuing my proposed updates of
Regulation FAA-RA as part of the fall Capital Improvements Program (CIP) process. This will
enable all facility planning stakeholders to provide comment on the changes as part of their input
to my CIP recommendations. In addition, it will allow the Board of Education to discuss the
regulation prior to my issuing the regulation.
The primary purpose of Policy FAA and Regulation FAA-RA is to promote public
understanding of long-range educational facilities planning and to provide opportunities for
parents, students, staff, community members and organizations, local government agencies, and
municipalities to identify and communicate priorities and concerns to the superintendent of
schools and the Board of Education. Policy FAA establishes the purpose of facility planning
processes, and Regulation FAA-RA provides facility planning guidelines and descriptions of
processes to use in implementing Policy FAA.
On June 17, 2014, the Board of Education adopted an updated version of Policy FAA. The
purpose of the update was to align Policy FAA with a recent update of Policy ABA, Community
Involvement. This update was part of an initiative to align all Board policies that have a
community involvement component with Policy ABA. The changes made to Policy FAA were
relatively minor and primarily had to do with references to Policy ABA.
Now that Policy FAA has been updated, it is important to update Regulation FAA-RA.
Updating Regulation FAA-RA provides an opportunity for the school system to review facility
planning guidelines, as well as align community involvement processes with updated policies. A
summary of the changes I am considering follows.
Updates to Regulation FAA-RANumerical Guidelines
Regulation FAA-RA includes several numerical guidelines for facility planning. These
guidelines include preferred school enrollment ranges, preferred school utilization levels, and
preferred school site sizes. Regulation FAA-RA also includes classroom program capacity

standards that are used to calculate school capacities. My proposed changes to these numerical
guidelines are listed below. Most numerical standards are stated as preferred values to allow
flexibility for circumstances that may warrant deviation from the preferred levels.
Preferred School Enrollment Ranges
Current FAA-RA

Proposed FAA-RA

Elementary Schools300 to 750 students

Elementary Schools450 to 750 students

Middle Schools600 to 1,200 students

Middle Schools750 to 1,200 students

High Schools1,200 to 2,000 students

High Schools1,600 to 2,400 students

The lower end of the preferred range of school enrollment is intended to enable efficient use of
resources at schools and to ensure that robust program offerings are available for students. The
upper end of the preferred range of school enrollment is unchanged at the elementary and middle
school levels. At the high school level, the increase from 2,000 to 2,400 students is intended to
bring the regulation in line with high school capacities that already are being built or masterplanned at revitalized/expanded high schools and high schools with planned additions.
As the amount of open land in the county is reduced and enrollment continues to grow, there is a
need to maximize the schools and sites that the system has available by building to the upper end
of the preferred ranges. At the same time, the upper end of the preferred enrollment ranges is
manageable in size and would have no adverse impact on the learning environment.
Variation from the preferred enrollment ranges currently exists and no changes to these schools
would be required by the proposed changes. Instead, as facility planning is conducted for new
schools, revitalization/expansions, and classroom additions, efforts will be made to build to the
preferred enrollment ranges. In addition, as school boundary changes occur to take advantage of
capacity in other school(s), or for the opening of a new school, the preferred enrollment ranges
will guide boundary development.
Preferred Efficient School Utilization Range
Current FAA-RA

Proposed FAA-RA

80 to 100 percent utilization

80 to 100 percent utilization

No changes are needed to the preferred utilization range of our schoolsthe 80 to 100 percent
range still represents efficient utilization of our schools.

School Site Sizes

Current FAA-RA

Proposed FAA-RA

Elementary Schools12 acres

Elementary Schoolsestablish a minimum

useable site size of 7.5 acres that is capable of
fitting the instructional program, including site
requirements. The 7.5 acres is based on an
ideal leveled site, and the size may vary
depending on site shapes and surrounding site
constraints.

Middle Schools20 acres

Middle Schoolsestablish a minimum useable

site size of 15.5 acres that is capable of fitting
the instructional program, including site
requirements. The 15.5 acres is based on an
ideal leveled site, and the size may vary
depending on site shapes and surrounding site
constraints.

High Schools30 acres

High Schoolsestablish a minimum useable

site size of 35 acres that is capable of fitting the
instructional
program,
including
site
requirements. The 35 acres is based on an
ideal leveled site, and the size may vary
depending on site shapes and surrounding site
constraints.

Recent experience with obtaining school sites of adequate size for our educational programs
illustrates the need to state a minimum site size. By stating a minimum size that is needed, it is
hoped that when master plans and sector plans are developed, sites with acreage less than these
sizes will not be offered. This is necessary given the amount of in-fill development that may be
expected to occur in the future. As higher density development is planned, the value of the land
increases. This has resulted in reluctance among property owners to contribute sufficient acreage
for schools. Setting minimum requirements will bolster our position as plans are developed.
School Capacity Calculation
Current FAA-RA

Proposed FAA-RA

Elementary Schools
Class-size reduction schools:
Kindergarten rooms rated at 15:1
Grades 1 and 2 rooms rated at 17:1

Elementary Schools
Class-size reduction schools:
Kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2 rooms rated at 18:1

It is important to note that this change is simply to align the regulation language with actual
practice and current school staffing guidelines. These ratings do not fundamentally change how
we design or construct classroom space for kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2. The staffing level
for class-size reduction schools has been 18:1 for kindergarten since FY 2010 and 18:1 for
Grades 1 and 2 since FY 2011. Therefore, the update of the regulation reflects no change in
practice but will provide a more accurate view of the capacity of these schools.
Updates to Regulation FAA-RACommunity Involvement Processes
References to community involvement processes in Regulation FAA-RA will be updated
to include reference to Policy ABA, Community Involvement. In addition, since Regulation
FAA-RA was previously issued, roundtable discussion groups have become an important format
for community involvement on a variety of facility-related issues. Therefore, a section on the
process for conducting roundtable discussion groups will be added.
Regulation FAA-RA also will be updated to reflect changes in the process of school site
selection. New procedures were developed by a joint work group of MCPS staff and staff in the
Montgomery County Departments of Planning and Parks, as well as other county agencies and
County Council staff. Important changes to the site selection process include:
the inclusion of homeowner association representatives from areas surrounding candidate
sites on site selection committees;
opportunities for the public to comment on school sites recommended by site selection
advisory committees; and
advisory committee-recommended sites receiving review and comment by the
Montgomery County Planning Board through the mandatory referral process.
Summary
The MCPS facilities planning process has a successful track record during a period of large
enrollment increases and complex facility planning activities. The proposed updates to
Regulation FAA-RA, Long-range Educational Facilities Planning, add important refinements to
our planning guidelines and processes. As comments by the public and Board of Education are
received in the coming weeks, I will remain open to modifications to my proposed changes to
Regulation FAA-RA. I anticipate issuing the updated regulation by the end of the calendar year.
If you would like to comment on the proposed changes to Regulation FAA-RA, please e-mail
Mr. Bruce Crispell, director, Division of Long-range Planning, Department of Facilities
Management, at bruce_crispell@mcpsmd.org.