Number of kindergarteners has increased

Student enrollment is still declining, according to the latest figures released by local school districts.

The larger of the two districts, Corvallis, reported a total of 6,724 students enrolled on Sept. 30, including the students at the new Muddy Creek Charter School. The figure represents 14 fewer students than at the same time last year.

The Philomath School District counted 1,693 students on Sept. 15. This total, which includes Kings Valley Charter School, represents 20 fewer students than were enrolled a year ago. But it includes 42 more students than the district projected its fall enrollment would be in May.

Corvallis fell short of its projected enrollment by 30 students.

Some people might be tempted to see a silver lining in the lower numbers in the hope that classrooms might be less crowded, but school officials never consider fewer students to be a good thing. State school funding is based on “average daily membership” — the number of students enrolled at the end of September. Fewer students attending the district translates into less money.

The bulk of school districts’ revenue comes from the state formula, said Kelly Howard, business manager for Philomath schools.

“With fewer students, that means less dollars all the way around. We need to maintain enrollment to have enough funding to operate all our programs,” Howard said, adding that enrollment has been declining in Philomath for the past five years.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on our enrollment for the past decade for two reasons,” said Corvallis’ business manager, Kathy Rodeman. Enrollment directly affects funding from the state, and it helps the district determine whether it has enough school facilities to match the number of students it has, she explained.

With a cumulative loss of 52 students — Muddy Creek Charter School’s enrollment does not count in the state’s formula for allocating money to the district and kindergartners count as one-half — Corvallis could be facing a shortfall of about $320,000 next year solely based on enrollment.

Fifty-two students equates to the average population of two classrooms, Rodeman said. Depending on whether that revenue is replaced by other sources, the district might have to look at reducing either services or staffing, she said.

Rodeman said some positive trends were reflected in the enrollment update. The total number of kindergartners in the district is 459 — 24 more than had been projected.

“This is a really good sign for us,” Rodeman said.

Also, enrollment fluctuations over the last four years have remained steady at less than 50 students per year. “After many years of declining enrollment, to see a flattening of that is very encouraging,” Rodeman said.

Other significant findings in the Corvallis district’s update are:

• The difference in enrollment between Corvallis’ two high schools is eroding. Four years ago, Corvallis High School had 305 more students than Crescent Valley High School. This year, the difference in enrollment has shrunk to 216.

• The number of home-schooled students as reported by the Linn-Benton-Lincoln Educational Service District is at its lowest level since September 2000 at 209 students.

• Forty-seven more students transferred into the Corvallis School District than chose to attend schools outside the district.

• The total number of students who live within the district’s boundary but who attend private schools rose by 28 students to 721.