Final Approval From State : New Moorpark High School OKd

The State Allocation Board has given final approval to construction of a $13-million high school in Moorpark with a classroom capacity of 1,000 students, the superintendent of the Moorpark Unified School District said Thursday.

Supt. Michael R. Slater said construction of the school, which will be on 40 acres near the corner of Tierra Rejada Road and Mountain Trail Street in the Mountain Meadows area, will begin July 1. The school is scheduled to open in September, 1988.

The possibility of a new high school has figured prominently in the debate over slowing development in Moorpark, a Ventura County city of 15,500.

Growth Projections

In 1984, opponents of a slow-growth initiative contended that passage of such a measure would jeopardize the school’s state funding. That funding is based largely on projections of enrollments, which in turn depend on population growth.

Responding to that argument, members of the Committee for Managed Growth called off their drive to get the slow-growth measure on the ballot.

As state funding began to look more certain, however, the committee resumed its fight to limit housing construction to 250 units a year. City voters will decide the measure’s fate in the November general election.

Civic leaders have strongly pushed for building a larger high school as district enrollment accelerated in recent years.

Enrollment Figures

In the 1981-82 academic year, peak district enrollment was 2,034, including 478 students at Moorpark Memorial High School. This year, districtwide enrollment rose to 2,860 students, 685 of them attending high school. Slater predicted that enrollment would jump by 15% next year.

The new campus will at first provide space for classrooms, a gymnasium and cafeteria, a teachers’ lounge, a library, administration offices and science laboratories. Facilities for industrial and fine arts classes, a football stadium and track, will come in later phases, Slater said.

The superintendent said the school site will accommodate enrollment until the year 2000, when county planners predict Moorpark’s population will reach 35,000.