To balance the budget this year, Ann Arbor Public Schools have been counting on a boost in attendance, and the additional per-pupil dollars that comes with more kids in the classroom. The final enrollment number will be up, but likely not as much as hoped.
New programs like STEAM atNorthside, the push for additional schools of choice students, and more young fives had Ann Arbor schools officials projecting an enrollment jump of 425 students. After last week's official count day those projections are being pulled back a bit.
The final number won't be known for another couple of weeks as the district waits for students that had excused or unexcused absences to return, but the Executive Director of Student Enrollment thinks they could fall up to 50 students below earlier estimates. Jane Landefeld says families have a lot of choices as they decide where to send kids.
Since schools of choice students bring their "home" district's per-pupil funding, the total impact on the budget isn't known yet either. "Right now we haven't really looked at where are students are coming from yet. We were just sort of making sure that they were getting enrolled, so we don't have those numbers," Landefeld says.
Landefeld says a full report on where students come from, as well as a final count, should be presented at the October 22ndschool board meeting.
Like 89.1 WEMU on Facebook and follow us on Twitter— Andrew Cluley is the Ann Arbor beat reporter, and anchor for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email him acluley@emich.edu.
