Howell Mountain School, the only campus in the smallest public school district in Napa County, could become a lot larger under a plan proposed by Pacific Union College.

The school serves 84 students, kindergarten through eighth grade. If PUC’s “Eco-Village” plan to create 391 new residents goes forward, the tiny school would see its population rise.

How much it would grow depends on who you talk to.

Thomas Stubbs, superintendent of the Howell Mountain Elementary School District, said a typical formula for growth is that you can expect one new student for every two households. That would suggest the district would gain 195 new students, more than twice as many as are accommodated now.

Angwin resident Duane Cronk, an opponent of the PUC plan and member of the group Save Rural Angwin, estimated that the housing units would bring in about 242 new elementary-aged students and 78 high school students. Angwin teens who attend public school go to St. Helena High School.

Then again, Angwin already has about 2,000 residents today and only 84 students are enrolled at Howell Mountain School.

Stubbs said that because the PUC plan is still a work in progress,  it is hard to know what the school needs to do to prepare.

“We have (attended community meetings) not as supporters of either side, but participating just to get the information,” Stubbs said. “I want as much information as I can possibly get so we can make calculated, accurate decision as to how this project might impact our school district.”

Because the new homes would produce tax funds that would go directly to the school district, not all impacts on the school would be negative, said Peter Bartelme, consultant to Triad Communities, which is PUC’s partner in the proposed Eco-Village.

“Conservative estimates show that an abundance of funds will more than cover costs incurred by the schools from additional students. With a surplus available for school improvements, students are the winners here,” he said.

Because Howell Mountain Elementary School District is a basic aid district, it relies on a portion of the county’s property tax revenue to fund the school. A preliminary study by Triad Communities estimates that more than $2 million in operational funding is likely to go to the district, and capital funding would create another $1 million. Capital funding — money that could be used to build new facilities — would come from the property taxes. Money to run the school would come from the developer fees.

Still, opponents say growth in Angwin is not good for the school.

“We think it would be a disaster because the school as it exists now cannot accommodate that large an enrollment and it would mean having to find another site for a school. I don’t know where they would find that,” Cronk said.

Others, however, have noted that the new housing units may attract Seventh-day Adventists, who established PUC and still form a large part of the population in Angwin, and that students may attend private Seventh-day Adventists schools in the area. Of the 391 new homes PUC is proposing, about half are on campus and are designed to support college students and staff.

Said Cronk, “A few (new residents) may find their way to the Adventist school in Angwin, but not many because only a fraction of the newcomers would be PUC faculty and staff.”

For Stubbs, though, right now it’s a waiting game.

“We’ve just been carefully gathering information. I’m not paying to do any studies yet because we want to wait until they finalize what this thing is going to look like,” he said.

Number crunch

Thomas Stubbs, superintendent of the Howell Mountain Elementary School District, said typically you can expect one new student for every two households. That would suggest the district would gain 195 new students, more than twice as many as are accommodated now.