By Jason Stuart
Ranger-Review Staff Writer
Enrollment in Glendive Public Schools has dropped further since school opened in the fall, leading to concerns about how that may impact the cash-strapped district’s financing moving forward.
The district is in the process of submitting its official spring enrollment count to the Montana Office of Public Instruction. How much funding a school district receives from the state is directly tied to the number of students enrolled in its schools.
And across the board, Glendive’s schools are down in student population this spring from where they began the year. Moreover, only three classes in the entire district did not lose students from fall to spring.
It’s not just that all the schools have lost students, but the rate at which it is happening that concerns school administrators.
Dawson County High School had the biggest loss of students in the district. DCHS has tallied 362 students this spring, down 30 students from the official fall count of 392. The freshman class has dropped from 110 students to 104, the sophomore class from 107 to 97, the junior class from 93 to 83 and the senior class from 82 to 78.
Asked where all those students have gone, district Superintendent Ross Farber simply said, “They moved.”
The rate of attrition at DCHS from fall to spring is particularly worrying to Farber.
“We generally see a little bit less (students) in the spring than we have in the fall, however, this year we’ve seen a little bit bigger of a drop-off,” he said. “It’s troublesome to see that many kids gone.”
While DCHS had the worst of it, it was not alone in bleeding students from fall to spring.
Washington Middle School has a spring count of 242 students, down 10 from the 252 the school began the year with. Enrollment in sixth grade dropped from 87 in the fall to 80 and the seventh grade dropped from 93 to 89. The eighth grade class is one of the three in the district to actually add students, in this case one, moving from 72 students in fall to 73 now.
Lincoln Elementary School is down eight students from fall, with a spring count of 287. The third grade class has dropped from 103 students to 93 and the fifth grade class from 92 to 87. The fourth grade class added the most students of the three classes that did in the district, moving up to 107 students from 104 in the fall.
Finally, Jefferson Elementary School is down seven students total from fall, with a spring count of 319 students. The kindergarten class has lost a single student, going from 98 in fall to 97. The first grade class has lost five students since fall, dropping to a count of 95, while the second grade has lost three, dropping to 97 students this spring. The pre-K class — which actually meets at WMS — did add two students, moving up to a spring count of 30.
Farber said he believes the overall student exodus is tied to the economic downturn in the area, with families relocating to seek better economic opportunities. For the district, that could translate into fewer dollars coming from the state for the next academic year.
“It does have an impact to the district, because less students means less money,” Farber said.
One salvation for the district on that front is if OPI will allow them to submit a three-year average for student population, Farber said. There are circumstances under which OPI will allow that for determining a district’s annual funding, and Farber said district officials are currently investigating whether the district can meet the criteria for it.
Barring that, the district could be in for a further funding crunch for the next academic year, while at the same time facing rising operating costs and with an ever-growing list of major infrastructure issues affecting all of the district’s aging school buildings.
Funding for schools at the state level continues to be a concern. Oil and gas revenues have dwindled to a trickle and with state revenues down, there has already been talk in the Legislature about cuts to education funding. All-in-all, it’s an anxious time for Farber and other school officials both here and around the state.
“We don’t know yet what the Legislature is going to do in terms of education funding,” Farber said. “We’re all sitting on pins and needles waiting to see what’s going to happen, so we’ll see.”
Reach Jason Stuart at rrreporter@rangerreview.com.