Public schools losing students

By John Kennett
Journalism 312 blog
Friday, Feb. 15

The subject of economics was in full force Wednesday for Mid-Michigan school districts and each district came up short.

Twice per year, the state requires school districts to tally its students to determine the amount of state funding each district will receive.

The September count day determines 75 percent of a school’s funding while February decides the other 25 percent.

Each school district in Midland County school districts lost students from the September count day.

Midland Public Schools lost 75 students, which translated into a loss of $663,600 in revenue for MPS. MPS receives $8848 per student from the state of Michigan. School officials said the drop in students was due to transfers, students leaving because of Michigan’s poor economy and early January graduations.

Meridian Public Schools only lost three students while Coleman Community Schools saw a decrease of 11. Both Meridian and Coleman receive $7,204 per pupil.

The Bullock Creek School District did not fare very well with a drop of 36 students from the September count day. The loss in students means that BCSD will receive $259,344 less in state aid.

In Isabella County, Shepherd Public Schools saw a decrease of three students according to school officials. For each student, SPS receives $7,204.

As of Friday, Beal City did not have its count available.

“I have not received the count yet from all our departments,” said Julie Freeze, business manager for Beal City Public Schools.

The state allows each school district 10 days to count students who were absent on count day. Districts can file for a 30-day extension to count students who are out due to long-term illnesses.

Edited by Ben Evers and Jason Baird