The Eddyville-Blakesburg School District currently has a certified enrollment of 695 students and it is projected to go down to 685 students by next year. In FY 2008-2009, close to 70% of the 362 school districts were rural, non-urban districts with enrollments anywhere from 74 to 1000 students. And altogether, they only served 26% of the public school students in Iowa. Most of the rural, non-urban, school districts have continued to lose student population.
Students eligible to be counted for certified enrollment for a school district are generally resident students, enrolled in public schools within the district in grades K-12 as well as those who open-enroll in public schools outside the district. The State bases its primary funding for a school district on the district’s certified enrollment. This year, the funding amounts to $5546 per student, and next year it will be $5,768 per student. If a resident student open-enrolls in another district, then the home district must pay that district the equivalent amount it received in funding from the State.
Currently, EBCSD has 55 students who are open-enrolled in other school districts; and it must pay the tuition of $5546 for each of these students. Altogether, this amounts to an annual total of $305,030 being paid to other school districts. Fortunately, there are 66 students who have open-enrolled into the EBCSD. This is a net gain of 11 students due to open enrollment or an additional $61,006 for this fiscal year. There are school districts which suffer a major loss in funding due to students who open-enroll out of their districts.
If a student were to open-enroll in EBCSD, next year, starting with Kindergarten and continue through the 12th grade, this would amount to a total of at least $75,000 for that one student over 13 years ($5,768 x 13 years = $74,984).
There can be many reasons why a student open-enrolls in another school district. It could be a matter of convenience for the parent who works in another district or it could be because of special classes, better sport or athletic programs, or a better educational program. These are positive reasons to open enroll. On the other hand, if a parent is dissatisfied with their home school district because of large classes, poor school facilities, low educational standards, graduation rates, etc., all negative reasons, they may elect to open-enroll their child in another district even though it will be an inconvenience to the family.
Open-enrollment out of a school district can have a major impact on that district. I have already touched on the financial aspect, but fewer students will result in fewer teachers, classes, and extra-curricular activities. Larger school districts do have some advantages over smaller districts. Although, the larger districts generally receive the same funding per student by the state and the student-teacher ratio is about the same, there is a certain economy of larger enrollment numbers. When it comes to offering advanced classes in math, science, language or various fine art classes, a large school district will have enough students sign up for these classes to justify the class. In a small school district, there may only be a handful of students who will take such classes, and it is hard to justify a teacher for such a small class or doubling up the students in another class because a teacher is not available.
The EBCSD is fortunate to have some large industries in the district with a large number of employees. New employees are being hired all the time and there are also employees who transfer from other plants. These new employees with young families are potential residents of this school district. But, these families have many choices of where to live, and if the EBCSD has large classes, crowded buildings and facilities, then the family will probably choose to live in another school district. Sometimes a family will decide to locate in another community or school district because of the spouse’s employment. Some families living in another school district will open-enroll their kids in the EBCSD because of convenience (one spouse works for an industry or company located close to Eddyville). For example, if they have a very young child, they will sign-up their child at the EBCSD Daycare Center; or if their child is of grade-school age they will open-enroll the child -- and the daycare is also available for the child before and after-school. The parent can drop the child off at the daycare or grade school on the way to work and pick them up after work. As of last year, there were twelve students who had originally open-enrolled in the school district because of this daycare/grade-school availability. Most of these children will continue to enroll in the E-B schools through the 12th grade. Of course, other reasons for open-enrolling in the EBCSD are because of the good school system and excellent teachers; and many parents prefer smaller schools for their children as compared to the larger urban schools
A big decision is facing the school board on whether to move the middle school from Blakesburg to Eddyville. If the decision is made to move the middle school, then the questions are: should the middle school be located at the Eddyville grade school or at the high school and when should the move take place -- for the 2010-2011 school year or the following year? What will be the tradeoffs – costs vs. savings? Will school facilities be crowded? What effect would such a move have on open enrollment? Will new families moving to the area choose to live in another school district? Will families living in other school districts continue to open-enroll at E-B.? Will Blakesburg parents choose to open-enroll their kids in other school districts?
The school board will hold a public hearing on its FY 2010-2011 budget on March 22, 6:00 p.m., at the Blakesburg Middle-School. The present proposed budget includes cost savings projections for moving the middle school.
To be continued --