Nearly 2/3 of Fox Valley Schools see Lower Enrollment, Less Cash (WI)

October 11, 2010

After enduring declining enrollment for more than 10 years and looking at a potential budget shortfall for this school year, Manawa School District closed its lone elementary school last June.

The closure forced the district to consolidate operations in its remaining two buildings by moving children in kindergarten through third grade to the middle school and grades seven and eight to the high school.

Downsizing was difficult, but it was the best Manawa could do to preserve its school system, said Supt. Duane Braun, who saw enrollment drop another 33 pupils this fall.

The debate leading up to that tough decision was painful, but students are adjusting.

"We have not had a concern this fall that it was a bad choice," Braun said. "We hope that the population goes up, but we have to stay afloat and keep things going in a positive direction."

Other Fox Valley school districts also are watching their student numbers slide.

Based on annual head counts, enrollment in nearly two-thirds of Fox Valley schools is down this fall, reflecting what has been a statewide trend for more than a decade.

While 12 of 21 districts saw lower student counts, nine saw their numbers increase, although slight for most. New London’s counts are up quite a bit, but the rise is attributed to a new 4-year-old kindergarten program.

School leaders watch how the numbers rise and fall closely, since the state uses the figures to help determine how much financial aid it gives districts, as well as the maximum they can tax property owners.&lt ;br />

"These numbers absolutely are important," said Kimberly Supt. Bob Mayfield, who finds both good and bad news in his district’s continued growth and ability to buck the tide of flattening out and decline.

While lower birth rates also have had an effect over the years, he and other school officials say the recession and slow recovery continue to have an impact on enrollments. Fewer families are moving into their school systems, they add, citing for-sale signs dotting neighborhoods.

Even in Kimberly, the housing market is suffering, said Mayfield.

"No doubt, the economy has affected us much more than a year ago," he said. "We’re not sure if they are leaving for jobs or foreclosures, but there are definitely a lot of houses for sale."

School districts were required to submit their official fall enrollment data to the state Department of Public Instruction by Monday.

Head counts, taken by schools the third Friday of September, indicate the number of students actually sitting in desks in a given district this school year. The numbers are used to analyze staffing needs and best use classroom space.

"Membership" data is an adjusted number that takes into account movement of students in and out of districts through open enrollment.

Membership figures are used in formulas to calculate state aids per pupil, which vary by district and tax revenue caps.

The state has allowed districts to raise their revenues by $200 per student this year.

Of the 21 districts surveyed, nin e have lower membership numbers this fall than last year.

Forecast for decline

Manawa’s Braun said he doesn’t see growth there any time soon.

"We’re going to be weathering this for a while," he said. "Bigger classes of 60 or more are graduating and once those classes graduate we will be living with 40s for classes for some time."

Others see signs of stabilizing and potential growth.

Enrollment dropped by 86 pupils this fall in Clintonville as school officials had projected.

"We anticipated that because we’ve had larger senior classes graduating and we knew we weren’t going to bring in that many kindergartners this year," Supt. Tom O’Toole said.

He expects the numbers to "level out a little bit" in the future.

Mike Gaunt, Marion’s head administrator, said even though student numbers dropped as expected because of smaller classes replacing larger ones as they move through the grades, he was pleasantly surprised.

"We were looking for an even greater loss of students," he said.

Gaunt cited small rays of hope, including efforts under way to upgrade technology, map the curriculum and "look at all our systems to see how we can serve our community better. We already have had a couple move-ins because word is going around."

Appleton’s Chief Financial Officer Don Hietpas was encouraged to see the district’s enrollment remain stable, and even rise slightly this fall. The headcount of 1 5,040 is up 15 from 2009. Membership is up by 54.

"We had predicted somewhat of a flat headcount, but it’s up so that’s good," he said. "I used a flat membership projection and that number’s a bit better as well.

"Obviously, we’d like to have a little bit of growth in enrollment — that does help us in budgeting — but we’ve remained fairly consistent."

He said increases are promising at the elementary level, which is up 98 students over last year. Appleton recorded its highest number of elementary pupils in kindergarten through sixth grade in eight years.

Still growing

Kimberly’s Mayfield said his district’s enrollment grew this year by more than 100 students through a combination of people moving into the district and open enrollment.

After years of rapid growth, district officials anticipated a slow down.

"We budgeted for an increase of about 35 because of the housing market and our numbers at the end of the school year," Mayfield said. "We’ve been fortunate with the move-ins that people chose the Kimberly area."

"You don’t want to be declining, but growth has been a good news/bad news scenario for us," Mayfield added. "The good news is we are growing.

 "With that, we have size and capacity to offer more things and programs. The bad news is the cost that comes with that. There is actually more of a tax increase than before because of state funding being reduced."

He added that the challenge tod ay is planning annual budgets without all the necessary data. "Before we have the numbers we are building a budget counting on a certain number of kids coming or not."

Meanwhile, Hortonville, which added students for more than a decade, appears to be leveling off.

"Generally speaking our enrollment is increasing, mostly due to our going to all-day kindergarten last year and starting 4-year-old kindergarten this year," said David Wuebben, business manager.

Wuebben said he expects Hortonville to start growing again when the economy rebounds.
Open enrollment boosts

Other figures school districts look at carefully are open enrollment numbers into their district and out.

Chilton for example had 87 open enroll into the district, while 30 enrolled out.

Claire Martin, Chilton’s head administrator, said that while enrollment there is leveling off open enrollment is a big plus.

"We’re very fortunate," she said. "We usually see a pretty positive gain from open enrollment."

Appleton, which has 15 charter schools this school year that attract families from outside the school district, benefits significantly from open enrollment.

"This school year, 1,038 students open enrolled into Appleton and 276 open enrolled to schools outside the district. That’s a 762 increase, which is a considerable help," Hietpas said.