Sophia LoMonaco, 3, entertains herself while waiting with her older brothers at a bus stop near her family's home in Vail's Rancho del Lago. The rapidly growing Vail district's plans to add schools have been sidetracked by an assortment of complications.

Greg Bryan / arizona daily star

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West of Interstate 19 on La Cañada Drive sits a 66-acre plot of desert inhabited by quails, creosote bushes and a few saguaros.

The plot is destined to become a high school, designed to ease overcrowding at Sahuarita High School. However, Sahuarita school officials don't expect it to happen anytime soon.

And the district isn't alone.

Classrooms across Tucson are hitting their breaking points, and districts are planning to build nearly two dozen schools in the next seven years to accommodate the growth. But problems with the state's school-construction agency, funding, land acquisition and other details have stymied districts' development.

Tucson's population hit 1 million in November. Local officials estimate one-quarter of the population is 17 or younger. State records show Pima County has gained more than 7,000 students in the last five years.

The Arizona School Facilities Board plans to discuss how it approves school construction. In the meantime, districts increasingly are looking at alternate funding sources to bypass the state's bureaucracy. The Sunnyside Unified School District last year became the first district in Arizona to partner with a developer, Diamond Ventures Inc., to build schools.

The image of Tucson's growth bearing down on the city's education system is nowhere more apparent than from the office of Vesey Elementary School Principal David Geesey. Nearly 20 years ago, he says his view was miles and miles of palo verdes. Now, blocks of developments are hollowing out the desert near the Southwest Side school.

"You can see the valley over there growing as we speak," he said, pointing to a row of new homes in the distance. "I'm already getting those students."

With 839 pupils, Vesey, 5005 S. Butts Road, in the Tucson Unified School District, has more than twice the 320 students it was built for. Geesey reckons he'll have more than 1,000 before a new school is built in the area.

On the other side of TUSD, Reynolds Elementary, 7450 E. Stella Road, has space for at least 200 more students, according to TUSD records. But a state formula stipulates that because of the extra seats at Reynolds, TUSD doesn't need a new school, despite Vesey's crunch.

The School Facilities Board governs when districts get more schools and doles out the money to build them. Though the board was created to ensure parity in school funding, most districts in Tucson grumble that the agency has only made a frustrating situation worse.

In 1994, the state Supreme Court ruled that relying on property taxes to finance school district construction was unfair to poor communities. In response, legislators created Students FIRST — Fair and Immediate Resources for Students Today — and the Facilities Board to give districts a state-funded source for school construction. The board uses a complicated formula to assess school districts' needs, which includes examining district enrollment as a whole, and not school-by-school.

Districts can apply annually for money for new buildings, but those that don't fit the formula usually don't even try.

"According to the state, we have excess capacity, so we won't get funds," said Bryant Nodine, TUSD's district planner.

TUSD has bond money set aside to build one elementary and one middle school, he said. But with its new smaller-class-size initiative in place, in stark contrast with the state's class-size formula, TUSD likely won't receive state money, Nodine said, and will have to turn to the community and developers to build future schools.

Meanwhile, bureaucracy is holding back the Sahuarita Unified School District, which gained more than 800 students in the last two years.

In April, the state board approved the purchase of 66 acres west of I-19 for a high school and K-8 school. The district is awaiting a state-approved appraisal and environmental assessment of the land before it can begin construction. The earliest to expect a new high school, officials say, is January 2009.

"We'll probably have kids hanging out of windows before they think we need a new school," joked Sahuarita Superintendent Jay St. John.

He's expressed that sentiment to the district Governing Board and the state Facilities Board, too. The frustration hasn't been lost on John Arnold, executive director of the board.

"How do you define how many students go into a facility?" Arnold asked. "That's been an issue since Day One."

While Sahuarita and other districts wait it out, there are options.

Bond measures can fund school construction, bypassing the board's formula for funding. But the board, Arnold noted, still needs to review school designs to make sure they conform to state standards.

A recent law allows school districts to partner with private developers. Sunnyside is the first district in Arizona to attempt a private-public venture.

"It's a win-win situation," said Gene Repola, the district's assistant superintendent for facilities. "The developer tells the buyer there's a school in the neighborhood. We get the school built before waiting to qualify."

Repola said three of six proposed elementary and middle schools in Sunnyside likely will be built by a private developer.

"It's either that or keep bringing in the portables," he said.

Land acquisition also has proven to be problematic for at least one district, and others say they need to be strategic with construction.

Vail School District officials have their eye on 425 acres held by private owners and the state. Despite their interest, school officials say state representatives haven't signaled how much land they're willing to sell or when.

Meanwhile, plans for the district to open Senita Valley Elementary at the beginning of the next school year were delayed because the state board voted down construction plans that didn't meet state guidelines.

Rattlesnake Ridge Elementary School will open in August to ease crowding in two elementary schools in the Marana Unified School District. A school was planned for the Dove Mountain area, but the district instead is looking at Gladden Farms, where it also has land.

Aaron Morgan would have attended the new school, but instead the 9-year-old attends Ironwood Elementary School, seven miles from home and 250 students above capacity.

"They can't put all of the kids in the cafeteria for award ceremonies," said his mother, Sheri.

She doesn't understand the decision to bypass Dove Mountain, where they live.

"I've seen the projections. It still doesn't make any sense," she said. "How can Continental Ranch get three schools and we don't deserve one?"

Amphitheater Public Schools is seeing growth in its northern reaches and likely will build its next elementary and middle school in Oro Valley's Rancho Vistoso, where it has land.

Five years ago, TUSD opened Banks Elementary School, 3200 S. Lead Flower Ave. It's the district's westernmost school in the area experiencing the most growth in the metro region.

Heidi Legg Burross, vice president of Banks' parent-teacher association, and an educational psychology professor at the University of Arizona, researched the school before moving to the area three years ago. She said the school's academics and small class sizes sold her.

Burross' family had moved from the Grant and Silverbell roads area, where her daughter, Olivia, was attending Robins Elementary School, 3939 N. Magnetite. They now live on an acre of desert. The open space, she said, was the appeal. But new developments nearby have meant new students at Banks and more traffic on the roads.

When the school opened in 2002, its design included extra space for additions. Stacey Delisle is Banks' PTA president and has three children at the school, Beth, 11, Sarah, 8, and Megan, 6. She said parents and others didn't think the school would need additions for at least 10 years. But last year, TUSD had to build three additional classrooms for the school.

Tucson's traditional school districts aren't the only ones experiencing the boom. Charter student population has grown from 10,237 in 2003 to 16,232 — nearly five times the growth experienced by traditional districts.

School districts across the state are booming, too.

"We anticipate building between 800 and 1,000 new schools over the next 20 years," said the Facilities Board's Arnold.

School districts are adapting to growth as best they can — administrators wish that could be said of the Facilities Board.

Arnold says he hasn't heard a formal request to revise the formula that decides what districts get schools. Besides, he said, that's not his responsibility.

"That would be a conversation to take place between the district, Governor's Office and the Legislature," he said.

But board spokeswoman Kristen Landry said members are willing to discuss changes.

The formula will be discussed at a symposium scheduled for May 30 in Casa Grande.