Greene County school board members spent considerable time at their regular meeting Oct. 21 discussing pandemic-related challenges including whether t mandate masks for students and staff and how to adjust the schedule to help teachers, many of whom are feeling overwhelmed with teaching students in their classrooms at the same time they’re teaching remote learners.
“Although we’ve discussed some really bad things tonight, I’ve got something probably even worse,” said school superintendent Tim Christensen as he shared enrollment figures for the current school year.
Enrollment is down 41 students compared to last year, with certified enrollment for 2020-21 at 1,158, That’s a 3.4 percent decrease.
The number of resident students open enrolled to other districts is down by less than a full student. (Enrollment figures include “weighting” for students with special needs, so figures often show fractions. In this case, the change is from 80.8 to 80.5 students.) The district has made headway, though, on attracting other students. The number of non-resident students attending Greene County Schools is at 61, compared to 54 last school year.
Christensen did not share numbers of home-schooled students, although that number is up due to the pandemic. He said the state is aware of that and my adjust school funding somehow to account for that. “I’m not ready to overreact at this point in time,” he said about enrollment and budget projections.
He provided the board with information of how the decrease in enrollment would impact the budget. If the legislature approves a 1 percent increase in state supplemental aid, the district will still receive $211,442 less in SSA. That’s a 2.5 percent decrease. However, there’s a budget guarantee in place that will provide $85,196 in “new” money to the district.
Christensen said he will recommend at the November meeting the board approve an early retirement incentive to reduce staff.
