September enrollments bring good news to school districts

September 20, 2011

Faced with shrinking budgets, area school districts received some good news after the preliminary enrollment counts for the 2011-12 school year.
Each of the three school districts has enrollments slightly higher than what was budgeted for this school year.
Deer Park, which has been in the best budget situation the past couple of years, has a district enrollment of 2,423 full-time equivalent students in September. The count is 67 FTE students above what the school district budgeted for the upcoming school year.
School districts receive about $2,000 a year in state funding for each FTE.
Last year, the school district averaged 2,305 FTE.
Riverside, which has been hit hard by shrinking enrollment over the past couple of years, showed 1,500 FTE in the first two weeks of the school year. The enrollment is 19 more than the school district estimated in its 2011-12 budget.
“It’s looking pretty decent,” said District Business Manager Ron Thompson.
Last year, the school district finished with 1,536 FTE.
Finally, Mary Walker School District officials report 510 FTE students this month, slightly more than the 508 they budgeted for.
Superintendent Kevin Jacka said the school district finished the 2010-11 school year with 509 FTE. The district’s enrollment was close to 550 FTE at the end of the 2009-10 school year.