The Springfield school board will be taking action on four boundary changes tonight.

The district has recommended the board consider other changes later, during spring budget talks, when the district's financial picture should be clearer.

The four changes the board is expected to approve tonight are all of minimal or no immediate cost, although a couple will require bond issues down the road.

Here's a brief look at each change going before the board:

- Alternate A-1: Allow Study Middle School to continue working with the district to finalize a "SPS Choice" program.

This is one of three recommendations pertaining to Study and the only one going before the board tonight.

Alternate A involves several school boundary changes that would mean a clean feeder pattern but increased transportation costs.

Alternate B would make Westport Elementary a K-8 school that would absorb Study's attendance, while Study would house all of the district's alternative programs. For that to happen, there would need to be another bond, said Marc Maness, the district's community relations director.

The district is suggesting that the board approve A-1 and revisit A and B in the spring.

Early talks about Study's choice program have weighed in favor of a science and technology focus, Maness said. But that likely would hinge upon money available after budget talks.

- Alternate D: Allow Robberson Elementary more time to form future programming and facility plans.

Although closing Robberson was one of the district's initial recommendations, officials now appear to be leaning toward keeping it open.

The Robberson community strongly opposed the suggested closing and has been working on a plan to address overcrowding issues.

One component of Robberson's plan is year-round education, according to Robberson principal Kevin Huffman. Implementing the year-round calendar would provide more consistent resources to the large number of impoverished students.

"We suffer more summer learning loss than some of the other schools," Huffman said. "This would help with that."

Year-round schooling would also make the school's need for air-conditioning more pressing, he said.

The part of Robberson's plan that would alleviate overcrowding involves building expansion on the southeast part of the building, Huffman said.

Expansion and air-conditioning would both require another bond issue, Maness said.

Though there is no immediate cost with this proposal, there is an implied financial commitment in approving this alternate.

- Alternate E.3: Continue with the current configurations and boundaries for Wilson's Creek Intermediate Center, with continual monitoring of enrollment changes for the 2009-2010 school year.

Basically, this a proposal to maintain the status quo at Wilson's Creek, a 5th and 6th grade school the district had considered making a K-5.

- Alternate E.4: Approve the revised boundaries for the new southwest elementary school and the adjusted boundaries for Gray and McBride elementary schools.

This will set the boundaries for the new southwest school for the 2009-2010 school year. It also mean alleviating some overcrowding at Gray and McBride.

With new boundaries, the new southwest school will receive 99 students from Gray and 241 from McBride.