|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
September 26, 2004Schools count heads for fundingActivities may be curtailed at those with lossByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Area schools counted heads. Now they can do the arithmetic and hope the state doesn't change the per-pupil funding equation. Some districts like Traverse City gained students in the annual fall count taken Wednesday. Others, like Northport, lost some. Traverse City Area Public Schools' preliminary tally totaled 10,741 students, up 21 from last year, said Christine Davis, executive director of human resources. Officials expected to lose 127. "We're very excited," Davis said. Michigan schools are required to count students each September and February. The state uses the numbers to determine per-pupil funding - which state officials promised will be at least $6,700 per student. Recent totals will not be finalized until sometime next month. Courtade Elementary School had 29 fewer students than last year, but Davis said the rest of the Traverse City district grew. The greatest student increases were in the Montessori program and at Willow Hill Elementary School. Enrollment numbers in many other districts continue to dwindle. Northport Public Schools welcomed its smallest student population since 1945, superintendent Richard Cross said. This week's count turned up 169, down from 224 last year. Northport doesn't rely on minimum per-pupil funding because it has a high non-homestead property tax levy due to a high number of seasonal homes in the community. Second homes are subject to higher taxes. The loss of students won't impact the district's $2.9 million budget. "What I think is going to disenfranchise families is if we can't have the same type of activities they expect," Cross said. "What if we can't field a soccer program? Then we're going to be faced with a real dilemma." Leelanau County lost half of its 25- to 40-year-old residents in the last decade while the number of people over 45 increased 200 percent, Cross said. He expects the trend to continue and to have a devastating effect on school districts. Janet Send, a bookkeeper in the Suttons Bay district, credited the loss of 35 students there to an unusually large graduating class last year. "The classes coming in aren't as big," she added. Officials in districts that rely on the minimum per pupil funding allowance - like Suttons Bay and Traverse City - are reluctant to set their budgets on the state's promise of at least $6,700 per student. "We're hoping for it, which is no increase over the last three years," Send said. "Whether or not they take it away is another story." Paul Soma, chief financial officer in the Traverse City district, said last year's allowance fell from $6,700 to $6,626 per pupil. He expects more of the same this year. "It's been guaranteed for the last two years, but it went down both years," he said. "The state budget sounds like it's balanced on a needle."
|
|
