POST FALLS — Post Falls may not have to propose school zone boundary changes to deal with overcrowding after all.

When the school year began, officials thought such proposals would be a strong possibility this winter to relieve Prairie View Elementary.

The school has 660 students — the most of any of Post Falls’ five elementary schools — and three portable buildings that have six classrooms.

But with only 115 kindergarteners expected to enter Prairie View next fall, compared to this year’s 155, school officials say there’s less pressure.

While no decisions have been made about dealing with overcrowdedness and the district is still reviewing its options, Superintendent Jerry Keane said altering school boundaries appears unlikely this school year.

One option in lieu of tweaking boundaries may be to temporarily bus a classroom of students to another school, as they did several years ago.

“We’ve done that before, and it’s pretty efficient,” Keane said.

Keane said the district doesn’t prefer to alter boundaries because affected families would have to change schools that they’re established in.

Changing schools, Keane said, is “generally a challenge.”

Keane said regardless of what happens short term, he believes it’s time for a long-range district committee to review a 2008 plan on school facility priorities because the district is expected to grow again after a relatively flat student population the past five years.

“We want to plan for the future,” Keane said. “We know we’re going to continue to grow.”

Keane said as soon as December, he could recommend to the school board to have the long-range committee start meeting to discuss facility priorities.

Keane said the district will be set in the next two or three years to be able to build a new school or expand one without raising existing taxes because some existing bonds, including ones for River City Middle School and Post Falls High, will be paid off.

The district’s facility plan adopted in 2008 — when the recession started — calls for a second-story classroom addition and kitchen expansion at River City Middle School. The addition, recommended as early as the 2010-11 school year before the student population went flat, would expand the capacity from 500 to 750.

The plan also recommends constructing an auditorium and auxiliary gym at Post Falls High as soon as possible.

A new elementary school was recommended for 2016. While that was a back-burner item five years ago, school officials say the school may now be near the top of the priorities, depending on future student figures.

A second high school could be at least five years down the road.