What would be the impact of new housing units on Harvard Street on our school population?
Here is a short model to address this question:
2020 Brookline Population: 63,171
2021 Brookline Total Households: 26,762
Average population per household (26,762/63,171): 2.38
Proposed number of new units on Harvard St.: 800
Proposed new population of Harvard St. (800 * 2.38): 1904
2022-2023 Population of students: 7074
% of population as public school students (7074/63,171): 11.2%
Assuming the new population on Harvard St mirrors the overall population…
Number of new public school students on Harvard St.: 213
Spread out over 10 years, that is an average growth of 21 students per year, which isn’t a large number, especially compared to the 7902 students in the 2018-2019 school year, a recent peak. Even if this model is off by 100%, the number of public school students is approximately half the difference between the peak in 2018-2019 and the current population.