Groton — Claude Chester Elementary School is out of racial balance based on the Oct. 1 enrollment figures Groton sent to the State Department of Education.

The imbalance means that Groton is eligible for the 80 percent reimbursement it's seeking from the state to build one of its proposed new schools. It also means the district can expect to be cited for noncompliance with the state's racial balance law and required to correct it.

The State Board of Education approved the school construction plan that goes to voters at referendum on Nov. 8 to address the racial imbalance.  If voters reject the plan, Groton will have to come up with an alternative plan, Superintendent Michael Graner said.

"We think that building a diversity school and using school choice is far better than forcing people (to move) through redistricting," he said.

The state considers a school out of balance if the percentage of "non-white" students is greater or less than 25 percent of the district average in those grades.

As of Oct. 1, Groton reported 993 of its 2,185 students in kindergarten through grade 5, or 45.4 percent, are non-white. By comparison, Claude Chester reported that 213 of its 298 students enrolled, or about 71.5 percent, are non-white.

The data excludes pre-school and pre-kindergarten students because Claude Chester does not have these grades. But if the younger students were included, the imbalance would be more pronounced, as Groton reported a non-white student population of 44 percent districtwide in preschool through grade 5.

The plan before voters would build one new middle school adjacent to Robert E. Fitch High School, renovate and convert the two existing middle schools into elementary schools and close three of Groton's oldest buildings — Claude Chester, S.B. Butler and Pleasant Valley elementary schools.

The two new elementary schools would be larger, allowing them to take in more students, and use magnet programs to draw in students from different areas.

The referendum will ask voters to approve the full $184 million cost of the plan, with Groton taxpayers covering about $84 million. Based on a median home value of $223,800, which is assessed at a lesser amount of $156,000, the school project would cost the average homeowner $194 annually. The remaining $100 million would be paid for by the state.

Scott Aument, co-founder of the political action committee Groton Advocates for Tax Efficiency, said that remains to be seen.

"Is the state going to honor that?" he said, adding that it feels like gambling. The schools are out of balance by a few students; it shouldn't cost $184 million to fix it, he said.

People don't seem to understand the alternative, said Lenny Winkler, co-chair of the Groton 2020 Schools political action committee.

Delay will cost taxpayers more as construction costs rise, and Groton would have to spend $64 million just to do needed work on its existing schools, she said. Meanwhile, the district must address the racial imbalance, she said.

Winkler said some people she spoke to over the weekend argued that Groton should try to get the racial balance requirement eliminated.

"We have no control over that," she said. "That is a requirement that is in place. We have to deal with it." If the plan fails, the district may have to "move students around, bus them out of their immediate area to another spot so that the schools are racially balanced. And a lot of people didn't want to hear that," she said.

Groton has redistricted repeatedly over the years. But the problem reappears, in a different neighborhood.

Less than a year before the state cited Groton for the imbalance at Claude Chester in 2014, the district moved 16 percent of its elementary school students to correct a racial imbalance at another school, Catherine Kolnaski Magnet School.

Redistricting also followed the defeat of the proposed Phase II construction plan. Students were moved in September 2012.

Aument said the district would have to move students even if the building plan were approved, because Groton would have two new elementary schools and three schools would close. So it can redistrict and spend $184 million or redistrict and spend less, he said.

"We can still fix it," he said. "The imbalance is in the elementary schools. It's not in the middle schools. So we're piling in all this other stuff to fix an elementary school problem."

d.straszheim@theday.com