The ball keeps rollin’ on the path to a new Austin public school.

Austin Public School officials briefed the Mayor and City Council members on the progress of the plan for a new school on Monday night at a work session.

Mark Stotts, the district’s finance and operations director, explained the district’s growing enrollments to council members, saying there will be a potential growth of 1,000 students over the next 10 years. Because of the exponential growth pattern, school officials not only need to plan for higher enrollment in the lower grades, but also in the high school, which is why using parts of the high school for lower grade expansion won’t work. The high school will eventually be at capacity, and then a second solution would be needed in the near future, Stotts said.

Austin Public Schools Superintendent David Krenz summarized the options for the new school building, saying the Ellis Middle School campus has been ruled out as an option. The K-Mart building has also been mentioned as a potential site. However, Krenz said existing options don’t fit the district’s needs very well.

“There’s just no way, without building something, to have space for 900 more students,” he said.

City Council members took no action at the meeting, but told Stotts and Krenz they support the district’s efforts in finding a site that will fit the school’s needs while costing tax payer’s as little money as possible.