The restructuring, the Army's largest since World War II, includes a transition to a modular force that the military said will increase combat power by 30 percent and increase the Army's pool of fighting forces by 50 percent.

The new modularity is being synchronized with the "Global Presence and Basing Strategy" to re-orient U.S. forces overseas as needs change.

Although the Associated Press reported that Schofield's 25th Infantry Division (Light) would get 3,700 soldiers, base officials yesterday spoke only of 1,000 more troops expected for a $1.5 billion Stryker Brigade.

They were unable to confirm the larger number, but said additional announcements for troop placements are still expected.

"Schofield Barracks remains one of the Army's premier training, readiness and deployment platforms, and will experience substantial net growth when all is said and done," said Brig. Gen. Francis Wiercinski, assistant division commander for support. "We are transforming our Army while at war in order to create methods to deploy units that are self-sustaining in combat and smaller in size, so they are more agile."

The troop announcement, which would include 1,000 soldiers that state officials had planned for, but 2,700 that had not been previously announced, comes on top of the possible basing of an aircraft-carrier strike group in Hawai'i and arrival of eight C-17 Air Force cargo planes starting in January.

Paul Brewbaker, Bank of Hawai'i chief economist, said the increase needs to be put into perspective with the number of military personnel here dropping from 60,000 to around 40,000 since the late 1990s.

"In that context, even an extra 4,000 soldiers and their families would not have a pronounced impact on O'ahu's economy or infrastructure," Brewbaker said.

He said that with O'ahu's economy growing to the tune of 10,000 jobs and 4,000 new housing units a year, it would not be difficult to absorb the extra military personnel coming in.

"You might see some local impact in towns around Schofield Barracks, but even there, the numbers are in a domain that is manageable and shouldn't be seen as disruptive," he said.

Greg Knudsen, a Department of Education spokesman, yesterday said the 2011 time line gives some lead time.

"Right now, for the Stryker Brigade, we're talking about expanding existing schools, but with the anticipation of as many as 1,200 additional students, and that's just for this smaller component of 1,000 Stryker Brigade soldiers," Knudsen said. "So if it's up to 3,700 ... yes, that will have a likely effect."

The Department of Education needs $12.3 million to accommodate the 1,200 additional anticipated students.

Although the DOE is not directly reimbursed for the costs of the Stryker Brigade, the department receives federal impact aid amounting to about $22.4 million, which is tied to the additional costs of educating children whose parents are sent here by the federal government. The aid can be used as the department sees fit. However, the aid is only about 20 percent of the cost of educating those students.

The 2nd Brigade at Schofield is being equipped with about 300 eight-wheeled armored vehicles — the first of which is expected to arrive next spring — that will fill a niche for medium forces between light and heavy-tank forces.

The transformation of Army brigades to a more modular design and an increase from 33 to 43 brigade combat teams, each with 3,500 to 3,900 soldiers, also is intended to allow regular Army soldiers to spend at least two years at home following each deployed year, at least four years at home for Army Reserve troops, and five years between deployments for National Guard.

The 3rd Brigade at Schofield Barracks is undergoing the change, as will the 29th Brigade of the Hawai'i National Guard when it returns from Iraq at about year's end.

The initial stage of "restationing" includes the 1st Infantry and 1st Armored divisions from Germany, and from South Korea, the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division.

The Army in May said some 25,000 soldiers would be transferred from overseas installations to Fort Shafter on O'ahu, Fort Bliss in Texas and Fort Lewis in Washington state.

Officials in Washington, D.C., at the time raised the possibility that a deployable Corps headquarters made up of elements in Europe might come to Hawai'i.

As a rough comparison, the possible move of the I Corps headquarters from Fort Lewis to Japan would involve an estimated 700 soldiers, according to the News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash.

Sharon Mulligan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter, yesterday said, "I don't have any information on that (a possible Corps headquarters move). Decisions are still being made."

Correction: The Department of Education is not directly reimbursed for the costs of the Stryker Brigade, as a previous version of this story implied.