Two local school boards have approved a plan to divvy up 10 lots straddling the schools’ boundary line in east Mount Vernon.

A resolution recently passed by both the Sedro-Woolley and Mount Vernon school boards would divide the affected lots within the Skagit Highlands development equally into the Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley school districts. The move helps create a solid boundary line within the potential 400-home complex, which is being developed by Quadrant homes.

“It’s a good example of districts coming together,” said Mark Venn, Sedro-Woolley School District superintendent.

The transfer still requires approval by the Northwest Educational Service District 189 in order to take affect

No students are currently affected as the 10 lots do not have housing, but having the line in place gives both districts a better estimate of how many students will soon be attending each district. The transfer also establishes which owners will pay taxes in which school district.

“It was based on how the (affected) homes were oriented in the lot, and we took into account transportation with the decision instead of just flipping a coin,” Mount Vernon Superintendent Carl Bruner said.

The agreements, passed by the Sedro-Woolley School Board May 28 and the Mount Vernon Board last week, put into place a resolution that’s been in the works for about the past year, Venn said. Although officials from both districts have known about the development for years, it was only recently that administrators and board members from both parties began to survey the area located southwest of the Highway 9 roundabout.

School Board members from both districts, along with Venn and Bruner, met during the process to discuss the details of the transfer and how it would affect the two districts.

“We’ve known it was coming,” said Jim Kallio, Sedro-Woolley School Board president. “We’re just keeping an eye open so when the portion on our side is being developed, we know what kind of impact it’s going to have. That’s all we can do.”

About a quarter of the homes planned in Skagit Highlands are located within the Sedro-Woolley boundary, so the district could see between 50-100 new students enrolled in its classrooms soon, Venn said.

Big Lake Elementary School would likely see the largest increase due to it being the district’s closest facility to Skagit Highlands.

Those numbers could eventually force the school district to redraw its individual school boundary lines so Big Lake does not have to accommodate higher enrollment numbers alone — surrounding schools such as Clear Lake Elementary may be able to help ease the influx of students into the district.

“Ultimately, we still have to expand Big Lake,” Venn said. “We tried to add four new classrooms (to the school) in our last bond, but until we pass a bond, we’ll have to be able to account for that enrollment.”

The remaining 75 percent of lots located west of the schools’ joint boundary line will be in the Mount Vernon School District. Unless voters approve a bond measure that would build a new elementary school, Skagit Highland students would attend Madison Elementary and La Venture Middle School.

The district owns property on Division Street north of the development.

“That was specifically purchased for an elementary school,” Bruner said. “There’s no question that the plan was to accommodate those students.”

Home owners in the new development would pay more in school taxes on the Mount Vernon side of the development — Mount Vernon’s levy and bond rate is $4.42 per $1,000 of assessed value according to the Skagit County Assessor’s Web site. Sedro-Woolley residents pay $3.49 per $1,000.

Washington state law allows parents to petition to have their students attend a neighboring school district.

“All districts around here have students who live in their boundaries that attend other school districts — it’s very common,” Bruner said.

Housing within Skagit Highlands start at about $200,000, according to the Quadrant Homes Web site.