After seeing a growing community, Capistrano Unified School District will open a new school in Rancho Mission Viejo in time for the fall 2027 school year.
The new school, serving students from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade, will be constructed in the village of Rienda in Rancho Mission Viejo.
Capistrano Unified has seen an increase in students from the Rienda area and has already added 400 temporary seats to Esencia TK-8 School in Rancho Mission Viejo, according to a school district staff report. With Esencia expected to hit capacity by fall 2027, district officials greenlit a new school during a board meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
The new school will house up to 1,600 students, Capistrano Unified spokesperson Ryan Burris said. Rienda TK-8, like Esencia TK-8, will feed into Tesoro High School.
This is the second school the district has built in Rancho Mission Viejo; Esencia opened in 2018. And another elementary school could be in the works as the community grows, said Capistrano Unified Trustee Gila Jones.
“It depends on how fast the ranch develops the rest of their property,” Jones said. “Developers can’t sell homes unless there are schools.”
The new Rienda school will feature classrooms and labs that allow for flexible teaching and breakout learning sessions, Burris said. Each classroom would also be equipped with state-of-the-art teaching walls, an interactive mounted display for educators to use during their lessons.
Spaces for performing arts, teacher meetings, outdoor learning, lockers and more will also be constructed, Burris said.
School board trustees unanimously approved a contract bid on Wednesday between Capistrano Unified and Swinerton Builders, a commercial construction company.
While it has an estimated price tag of $79 million, the new school will not cost the district any money, said Burris. The project will be funded by developer fees and state matching dollars, Burris said.
The school will be constructed on a nearly 15-acre land between Coyotes and Pablo Way, just north of Saddle Way.
The new school will help complete the community, said Mike Balsamo, senior vice president of the Orange County Business Council.
“One of the most critical elements of any new community, and in terms of quality of life, is public schools in the community,” Balsamo said.
In 2019, the same company that created other Orange County communities — including Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita and Ladera Ranch — announced plans for a 19th-century cattle ranch, known as Rienda.
Houses in the village hit the market in spring 2022. And since its opening, Rienda brought 2,7000 new homes to the Rancho Mission Viejo area, carved out of the hills four miles east of San Juan Capistrano near Ortega Highway.
Capistrano Unified is the largest school district in Orange County, with 63 campuses across the county.
More than 47,000 students are enrolled in the southern Orange County district, which includes schools in San Clemente, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita, among other places.
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