PUHSD meeting to discuss high school boundary changes

Steel infrastructure for Liberty High School is beginning to take shape on Leon Road north of Scott Road. Menifee 24/7 photo by Doug Spoon

The Perris Union High School District has scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday at 5 p.m. to receive public input on the proposed school boundaries necessitated by the opening of Liberty High School in August 2021.

Liberty High is being built at Leon Road and Wickerd Road on the rural eastern edge of Menifee, just north of Scott Road. Its borders are proposed primarily to be Newport Road/Domenigoni to the north, Clinton Keith Road to the south, the 215 Freeway to the west and Highway 79 to the east. That area is currently within the boundary of Paloma Valley High School, which is well over capacity with 3,200 students.

Under the proposed configuration, the Paloma Valley boundaries would be reduced to the area west of the 215 Freeway, running from Sun City to the north down to the hills above Clinton Keith Road to the south. That will reduce Paloma Valley's projected average enrollment over the next 10 years to be 2,502, according to Candace Reines, deputy superintendent for PUHSD.

In addition to picking up a portion of the students currently assigned to Paloma Valley and Heritage, the new Liberty High School is projected to have average enrollment over the next 10 years of 2,392, Reines said. This takes into account the many new rooftops being built in the southeast portion of Menifee.

The boundary for Heritage High School is much larger geographically than those of Paloma Valley or Liberty, but because of its more rural makeup, its projected average enrollment is only slightly higher at 2,757. It encompasses students from both the Romoland and Nuview School Districts.

Enrollment for Perris High School is projected at 2,400.

The wild card in all this is the open enrollment factor. Although high school boundaries must be set, the PUHSD open enrollment policy allows students to enroll at a PUHSD school outside his or her attendance area if space is available and the student provides his or her own transportation.

For years, Menifee Union School District officials have pursued discussions of becoming a Unified School District, including high schools in Menifee. The most recent proposal was to take in Paloma Valley and Liberty high schools, with Heritage remaining in PUHSD with Perris High. Discussions of the ramifications of such a move have led to little or no progress since a joint meeting between PUHSD and MUSD officials in September 2018.

Wednesday's meeting takes place at the PUHSD board room, located at 155 E. 4th Street in Perris.

A boundary proposal map shows the boundaries for Perris (yellow), Heritage (red), Paloma Valley (green) and Liberty (blue).