District One sees a growth spurt
CFO describes increase in students as ‘good problem’
An unexpected growth spurt was among the hot topics at the District One governing board meeting Monday evening.
CFO Denis Ponder said that based on historical trends, the district is anticipating an enrollment of 8,200 students.
“Our growth from Day 1 to Day 5 is twice or double what it had been on average for the last 10 years,” CFO Denis Ponder told the board during his enrollment report. “That’s a good problem to have.”
This year, District One wrote its budget anticipating a loss of 110 students, Ponder said. But with the growth it is experiencing, the district will get funding for about 200 more students.
“We’re adjusting to that, but it was just really interesting to see not only that we started high, but the gap between where we started and where we are has continued to grow faster than we’ve seen in the last five years,” he continued.
School districts have several methods which they use to predict enrollment, which is required under the current year funding model. One of those is to look at historical trends over a span of five, 10 and 15 years on different dates within the school calendar, often referred to as the first day, 20th day, 40th day or 100th day. Those “count dates” are used to find a district’s “ADM” or average daily membership.
Ponder noted that his evaluation of the data shows that the district’s ADM is usually about 99 percent of the first day of enrollment. But this year, the district’s Day 1 count was what they usually have on the 100th day.
Some schools are seeing double digit increases of students, Ponder said, and the district is hiring additional teachers and paraprofessionals to try to decrease some of the class sizes. It is making a list of furniture needs such as tables, chairs and desks to accommodate the growth.
Board President Karen Griffin asked where the growth was coming from, but Ponder said that it was too early to tell whether the spurt was due to new housing, migration or any other factor.
Assistant Superintendent Duane Sheppard said that the district is moving rapidly to alleviate “hot spots,” and would be evaluating attendance and enrollment data at the end of the week to determine whether more staff would be needed.
The board accepted a $25,000 grant from the agriculture company Monsanto, which will go to renovate a classroom at Ron Watson Middle School for a culinary arts kitchen.
Monsanto representative Paul Sawyer noted that the grant is nationally competitive and that Ron Watson had been recommended by 13 area farmers for the award. Ron Watson Principal Donna Franklin said students were very excited for the grant.
Sheppard reported that the district had a great first week of school, that classrooms were full, and that staff and teachers did a great job of supporting each other and students.
The board also approved all items on the consent agenda, including donations to the district in the amount of $5,328.68 (to date), and approved moving the October board meeting to Tuesday, Oct. 10, due to a calendar conflict.
The board’s next meeting is slated for Sept. 12.