Building Capacity Model & Functional Capacity

Building Capacities in Carroll ISD

Determining how many students fit into a school building isn't as easy as it sounds.  In its simplest form, figuring out the capacity of a school campus is done by counting the number of available classrooms and dividing it by the number of students who will fit in those classrooms.

However, there are always other variables to consider. For instance, what ratio of students to teachers will the district implement? And what about classrooms where special needs students are served and student-to-teacher ratios are lower?  And what about computer labs, art and music rooms, science labs and common spaces like gymnasiums and cafeterias? And every building seems to have rooms that are smaller and may not hold a full class, what about those?

Carroll ISD Superintendent David Faltys developed a methodology for determining a school's "functional capacity." The functional capacity can change through the years as the instructional program changes. Classrooms that are utilized as regular education classrooms are sometimes converted for use for special programs, or as computer labs, etc. This can change the functional capacity of a campus significantly.

Figuring Functional Capacity

For our purposes, common spaces like the library, cafeteria, computer labs, gymnasiums, art rooms, music rooms, etc. are not counted in the functional capacity. Certainly the district has to take these spaces into consideration when addressing facilities. The common core spaces and specials rooms are not used when figuring a building's capacity for total students.

In CISD, a regular education classroom at the elementary level will be staffed at 20:1 (20 students - 1 teacher per classroom)

Preschool classrooms are staffed at 12:1

Special education classrooms are staffed at 9:1

Self-contained classrooms are staffed 7:1

Intermediate, middle and high schools are staffed at 26:1 with 75% usage based on periods and conference periods or coaching periods where the teacher is not using the room space.

Current Functional Capacities & Projections for Carroll Schools