Multiple Auburn School District officials anticipated another enrollment spike this year.

And the Oct. 1 headcount confirmed their expectations.

Cindi Blansfield, the district’s assistant superintendent for business and operations, said ASD had 15,945 students enrolled on that date, which was 34 more than projected. It also was 282 students more than the district’s Oct. 1, 2015 headcount.

That is significan, Blansfield said, because the district receives more than $7,800 from the state, when materials, supplies and operating costs are factored in, per full-time equivalent (FTE) student enrolled. ASD had 15,511.91 FTE students.

The variation between a head count and FTE occurs when a student, such as one enrolled in Running Start, does not attend classes in ASD all day. There used to be a greater difference between the two counts, but all kindergarten students in the district attend class for an entire day now.

Blansfield expects enrollment growth to continue. She said district officials use a variety of data, including birth rates in King and Pierce counties during the last 13 years, to project enrollment five years into the future.

“We are projecting another 1,700 students in the next five years, which is very exciting … but we need space,” Blansfield said.

Some of that burden could be eased, she said, if voters were to pass a capital facilities bond Nov. 8 that would rebuild six schools and construct two new ones. The bond measure requires at least 60 percent of the vote to pass.

The bond would replace five elementary schools built between 1945 and 1965 – Terminal Park, Dick Scobee, Pioneer, Chinook and Lea Hill – along with Olympic Middle School. The latter building opened in 1957.

The $456 million levy, which would add an estimated $1.02 per $1,000 of assessed property value, also would fund two new schools. During a series of public forums, superintendent Alan Spicciati said district officials are considering locations near the old Valley 6 Drive-In Theaters, which shuttered in December 2012, on the north end of the city, and the Lea Hill and Lakeland Hills neighborhoods. Lakeland Hills Elementary is ASD’s largest with 725 students.

All the new buildings, Spicciati said, will be designed for 650 students. He said some of the older schools were only built to handle 400-500 students, which has resulted in more portables. Blansfield said 102 portables serve 2,500 students district wide this year.

“In our schools, we want everyone to be inclusive,” Blansfield said. “We want everyone under one roof.”