ROYAL CITY - Trying to develop a consensus for a solution to the space problems in the Royal School District, the Community Communications Committee is hosting a second facilities meeting tonight at the high school library at 7:30 p.m.

The primary discussion at the last meeting, earlier this month, was about enrollment and a potential construction bond election.

The last three bond attempts have been turned down by district voters.

The state calculates district enrollment capacity at 1,323 students, based strictly on a formula using square feet.

The calculated capacity is 1,519 if students were equally distributed among all classrooms.

These capacity numbers do not factor in the recently-purchased and installed portable classrooms.

They add 90-100 students to the capacity of the district.

The portables have eliminated the "cart" teachers, according to business manager David Andra.

Cart teachers did not have classrooms of their own. They pushed a cart to an empty classroom during that classroom teacher's planning period.

"This gives us much more flexibility in scheduling and helps keep our class sizes down," Andra said. "We will also have a dedicated space for our highly capable program."

"While the portables have helped with a few of our immediate problems, they have not helped the crowding in our hallways or cafeterias," Andra added. "They have helped us with our current capacity but leave us very little room for our anticipated growth. If our enrollment trend continues, we will quickly run out of classroom space while still battling our crowded hallways and cafeterias." Space is still at a premium, Andra said, and the district preschool will continue to rent space downtown at the Methodist Church.