Southern Californians may not be packed in like sardines yet, despite the region's increasing urbanization, but schools definitely are feeling a squeeze. Many cities are experiencing substantial increases among their populations of young adults, and that means ever-growing numbers of children who need seats in schools.
Typically, children are crowded into existing buildings and portable buildings start popping up on campuses when money for new facilities is tight. Now, with a plan for a first-ever "space-saver" school in Santa Ana, the state is seeking to take an innovative approach to urban public education.
Rather than sprawling for a block or more in a residential neighborhood, the school would occupy a yet-to-be-built three-story structure that would house a parking garage on the ground floor and classrooms for 1,300 intermediate-grade students on the two floors above.
The location, too, is unusual: a shopping mall.
The Legislature, which promised to fund the program from bond measures, recommended that urban school districts build new facilities next to or atop underutilized commercial or industrial buildings to avoid condemning property elsewhere.