Orlando schools rise before homes: As Wake leaders wrestle with ways to pay for more schools, The N&O visits other fast-growing areas. Orlando uses sales taxes and impact fees to build schools ahead of the boom.

Byline: Cindy George

Apr. 25--ORLANDO, FLA. -- When the citrus groves north of Disney World succumbed to freezes in the 1980s, farmers started selling the land.

Developers saw an opportunity for the county's rural outposts to become lush new subdivisions. But in Orange County, there's a clear mandate: Schools are built first, or the farmland won't be rezoned to allow dense housing. This policy was born of necessity. In 1996, Orange County's school district, which includes Orlando, had 127,000 students -- about the size of Wake County's school system today. But the county was five years into a 15-year enrollment explosion that has added 2,000 to 7,900 students annually. This school year, the district opened nine new schools, and 30 more new or renovated schools are planned in the next two years. In Wake, the growth story is similar. But school officials in Wake still scramble to know what housing developments have opened, let alone what might be on the drawing board; city and county officials routinely approve subdivisions before schools are built. To help Wake catch up, voters will be asked this year to approve a bond issue that could top $1 billion. Orange officials realized early in their boom that they had a problem -- and they didn't have a plan. The county has worked to reach a balance of finding money, projecting enrollment, scheduling construction and getting schools ready in time for the students who need them. The district is ahead of a new statewide growth initiative called "pay-as-you-grow" that requires schools, roads and other infrastructure to be ready before developers can build. In Orange, builders poised to start projects know they must help…