A ministerial order passed Wednesday will mean changes for students at three elementary schools.

The order was signed by Education Minister Patrick Rouble. It changes the catchment areas for Golden Horn Elementary, Takhini Elementary and Elijah Smith Elementary schools.

"We've been in discussions for the better part of a year and a half," Dave Sloan, the superintendent of Area 2, said in an interview this morning.

Under the order, the Golden Horn catchment area will see students from the new Whitehorse Copper subdivision added to the school's population.

The rural school sits near the Carcross corner and has had a declining population in recent years - from 300 at its highest in 1998 to 144 students as of April.

The school is set to lose one teaching position in the coming academic year, with the number of teaching positions based on school population.

The new Whitehorse Copper subdivision would have fallen inside the Elijah Smith catchment area.

However, with Elijah Smith's population at a record high of 311 this past school year, opposition MLAs were calling on the government to change the attendance boundaries so students living in Whitehorse Copper could attend Golden Horn.

Changes are also in place for Elijah Smith, with the school losing new students coming from Valleyview and Lobird Trailer Park, who will now attend Takhini Elementary.

Students from the two neighbourhoods who have already started school at Elijah Smith will continue there along with the neighbourhoods still in the catchment area, including Granger, McIntyre, Hillcrest, McLean Lake, MacRae, Paddlewheel Village and Canyon Crescent.

"They're grandfathered in," Sloan said of Lobird and Valleyview students who have already started school at Elijah Smith.

This marks the first major changes to attendance areas for local schools since Elijah Smith and Hidden Valley (in the MacPherson subdivision) were added to the list of elementary schools in the city in the 1990s.

With the Elijah Smith catchment area experiencing more development, the population of the school has mounted, while the Golden Horn area has gone through very few changes and has a declining number of students at the school.

"Neighbourhoods change, neighbourhoods grow, neighbourhoods decline," Sloan noted.

Done in consultation with school councils and officials, he said, the changes have been made in an effort to bring more balance to the school populations, though they're unlikely to have a major impact next year.

While there aren't any homes in the Whitehorse Copper area yet, this will allow those moving to the new subdivision to know where their kids will go to school, Sloan said.

It's expected Golden Horn will still be down one teaching position next September. However, the number of teachers could rise in the coming years as Whitehorse Copper is developed, he said.

Similarly, the changes to Takhini and Elijah Smith will be minimal in the coming year, with few students coming from the Lobird and Valleyview neighbourhoods.

Residents of Hillcrest will continue to be in the Elijah Smith catchment area. Sloan said the neighbourhood remained there because it is within walking distance of the school and includes a trail network linking the neighbourhood with the Hamilton Boulevard school.

Projections for the 2008/2009 school year anticipate 145 students attending Golden Horn, 170 going to Takhini on Range Road and 336 attending Elijah Smith.

NDP education critic Steve Cardiff noted today that despite the changes, it remains to be seen whether Golden Horn will still be down one teacher in September.

It's a situation that's frustrated the school council and may not be resolved in the coming school year, he commented.

Cardiff noted, however, he is pleased that the requests for the changes in the catchment areas have been addressed.

"I view that as a positive," he said.

Eric Fairclough, the Liberals' education critic, was unavailable for comment this morning.