When Jefferson City's seven-member public schools board meets Monday, they aren't scheduled to make a final decision on a possible bond or levy issue for voters.
But, they're having a 4:30 p.m. work session before the 6 p.m. formal board meeting to "discuss/compile list of questions and information needed to help determine (the) timing of (the) next bond/levy issue."
After district voters in April 2013 rejected a proposal for building a new high school complex, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, the board and district administrators asked a long-range planning committee to look at all the district's needs.
Late last year, that panel recommended the district build a second public high school, renovate the current building, add classrooms to the Callaway Hills Elementary School and build a new elementary school on land the district already owns on East McCarty Street, just north of the Lewis and Clark Middle School and about six blocks east of the current East Elementary School.
President John Ruth said last week: "We have a space issue.
"That's a key element that, I think - if we did anything wrong in the last election, we didn't identify what the need was.
"It's really simple - the need is, we're running out of space, and we've got to do something about that."
The district had 412 more students in Fall 2014 than in Fall 2000, according to its student population numbers included in the annual School Report Cards issued by the state Elementary and Secondary department.
And the student head-count actually is 700 people higher than the lowest population reported in Fall 2008, with steady growth ever since.
Since school population counts aren't made until the end of September, administrators have said it's too soon to predict the district's population for the 2015-16 school year that will start in about two months.
But they also have told the board early registrations are keeping pace with last year's rate.
Using the capacity criteria included in the December 2013 "School Facilities Appraisal" report done by the ACI Boland architectural firm - which were made after the district completed the elementary building expansions in 2009 for full-day kindergarten and expanded library services - Lawson Elementary School has been substantially above its population capacity, 471, in each of the last four years.
Last year, its official head count was 559 pupils - 88 more than capacity.
Pioneer Trail Elementary opened in 2009 and was built as part of the same expansion for full-day kindergarten; it was given a capacity of 538 pupils - the district's largest.
But in three of the last four years, it's had from 10-17 more students than its capacity.
At grades 9-12, combining the head counts for the Simonsen 9th Grade Center and Jefferson City High School buildings, there have been more students than the 2,510 capacity of the two buildings every year since 2006.
The largest total, 2,618, was reported in Fall 2013.
Last year's total was 2,567.
The board is considering asking voters to approve two high schools - a new one and renovations to the existing complex - designed for a total of 1,500 students at each school, "with the ability to have more (students) in the future," Ruth said.
Another key issue board members have discussed - and appear to be agreed on - is that both high schools would have an equal number of students and would offer the same classes and programs.
However, unless financial consultants recommend something different, the initial proposal would have both high schools sharing the Adkins Stadium football and track facilities - at least in the beginning.
Ruth said, even though the total number of high school students topped 2,600 two years ago, "We've (not) been able to project out (above 3,000) with any of the demographer reports that we've done.
"In fact, we've always struggled to identify where the growth comes from in the kindergarten classes that we keep looking at."
Those kindergarten classes have been the highest in the district's history for several years now, and it's that growth that really is fueling the concern about needing to add more space.
And the district's predictions take into account the population projections for other area schools, including Helias Catholic and Calvary Lutheran high schools, officials said.
Several board members want to hold a special election in November, at least for the expanded Callaway Hills and new East elementary schools proposal because, if voters approve it, the new school could be ready for use in the fall of 2017 instead of 2018.
But other board members said during an ad hoc committee session last Monday they would prefer to visit with new Superintendent Larry Linthacum after he starts July 1 before making a final decision on when to hold an election on any of the proposals.
Still, Ruth said after last week's meeting: "We've had a committee of community members, a diverse group of stakeholders - some were for the last proposal, some were against it, others were just for kids - but they met for almost 18 months, and developed a really good proposal."