The moment Jennifer Schaffner walked into Culver Elementary School she knew right away she could relocate to the town of 1,160 southwest of Madras.

“We came and met everybody and toured the school before we decided to move,” said Schaffner, who moved from Tumalo. “It was our number one deciding factor.”

Schaffner’s not alone.

With the end of the school year this week, district officials in Culver began packing up files and office supplies and moving into a manufactured home to make space for more classrooms.

They’re experiencing overcrowding at every level, from kindergarten to high school, and in the process of working on a $20 million to $22 million bond proposal that would help add on to the high school and build an elementary school.

At the same time, about 10 miles up the road, Jefferson County School District officials have closed Westside Elementary School and are projecting flat enrollment for the next school year.

Culver officials said they’re not sure what’s behind the enrollment differences but point to a combination of strong academics, state championship sports teams and affordable housing as possible reasons.

It’s not just Jefferson County that’s watching enrollment numbers stagnate or even decline.

Crook County is also projecting flat enrollment, and Bend-La Pine has estimated a 1.5 percent increase.

The Redmond School District is not planning on hiring any new teachers for the 2008-09 school year because of a projected slowdown in enrollment numbers.

And the Sisters School District is going on two years of declining enrollment.

All the while, the Culver School District has projected what it considers to be a “very conservative” 3 percent increase.

“Oregon is seeing this in other parts of the state, too,” Gene Evans, with the Oregon Department of Education, wrote in an e-mail. “One community is growing, while their neighbor down the road remains unchanged — could be because of employment, housing trends, housing costs or some other factor. The impact on schools is that some suddenly find that they don’t have enough room for their students, while their neighbor has empty classroom space.”

Jamie Burleigh, business manager for Culver schools, said two years ago the district enrollment increased by 12 percent and 6 percent the year before. But historically the district has grown at a rate of 3 percent.

When school districts gain in enrollment, they receive more funding. Overestimating can mean paying back the state at the end of the year, which is the reason behind Culver’s conservative estimate.

Superintendent Linda Florence said she thinks a combination of factors is drawing people to Culver and the school district.

“I would say we still have affordable housing here,” she said. “We have a lot of people coming from Bend, Redmond and Madras because our housing is affordable. We have another subdivision that when it’s completed it will have 74 homes in it. … And it just seems to continue. And I don’t want to toot my own horn, but people say they want to move into the district because of the schools, and that’s very good, and I appreciate it.”

The median house price in Culver is $155,000, while in Madras it’s $162,000.

Florence said having state championship football and wrestling teams has generated positive publicity.

“People see that in the paper, and that’s what they read about,” she said. “They’re happy the academics are there and that we’re strong in both areas.”

For the past six years, she also pointed out, district schools have met Adequate Yearly Progress standards, which indicates how public schools are performing academically.

When Scott Fritz and his wife were contemplating a move from Salem, they researched the entire area.

“I love the Culver area,” he said. “The small community, the farmland, and my wife being a teacher, she researched the school districts and everybody said, ‘Oh, you have to put your kids in the Culver School District.’ … Both my kids are excelling here; they love it. I notice the teachers take more of an interest in the kids here than in the larger schools in Salem.

“Best move we ever made was moving here and putting them in a smaller school.”

Projecting enrollment numbers isn’t always an easy task, and each district has slightly different methods. Some officials create spreadsheets; others talk with real estate agents. But they all use the economy as their strongest assessment tool.

For Jefferson County, that meant when the Deer Ridge Correctional Institution was slated to open with both minimum- and medium-security portions, the district projected a student population of 4,345 by 2007. Instead, part of the prison was postponed, and that contributed, along with other factors, to school enrollment numbers staying fairly stagnant over the past seven years. In 2007-08, enrollment declined by nine students. As of March, Jefferson County’s enrollment was 2,968.

Culver schools’ current enrollment is about 720 students.

Florence said in the three years she’s been serving as superintendent, she watched the high school go from 190 students to 235, and the middle school increase by about 30 students.

Schaffner, who moved because her husband was offered a job on a ranch, said there’s just something special about the small community.

“The first day we came we felt like the (elementary) school really had it together,” she said. “I don’t have to request teachers because they are all good. … You’re thrilled to get any one of them.”