FILER — Increased residential construction and a subsequent increase in student population has the Filer School District considering the future.

Following a school board mandate approved this past summer, a long-range planning committee — made up of parents, administration and area business people — is being formed to collect information on needs at each of the district’s four schools and develop solutions that will help meet the demands of potential growth over the next five to 10 years. Some of the areas under consideration include maintenance, building expansion, special education and extracurricular activities.

“It’s going to take the better part of a year to come together with a feasible plan that we can present to the school board for review,” committee chairman Jon Lantz said.

“It’s also important to establish the committee as a grassroots organization, so that community members are facilitating the needs of the schools.“

Current enrollment for the 2006-2007 school year stands at 1,380 students attending elementary through high school. Approximately 170 of those are students who attend school from outside the district.

Though future student numbers remain an unknown, district superintendent John Graham noted Wednesday evening that the district has already experienced significant growth.

• Between 2000-2006 the high school experienced a 7.5 percent increase in students.

• Between 2004-2006, the middle school had a 10 percent increase in students.

• Between 2000-2006 the elementary school had a 12 percent increase in students.

Based on current plat designs, residential development in exiting subdivisions will be expanding from 250 to 300 homes and that number could grow to an additional 300 homes as new designs are approved in the future.

“We’ve seen an increase of over 2.5 percent each year for the last three years and that’s probably going to continue,” Graham said.

John Swayze lives in Filer and can be reached at (208)-326-7212 or by e-mail at swayzef@aol.com