By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich– On Feb. 14, the school district joined others statewide in the spring student count day.
District wide, enrollment dipped from 2,061 in February 2017 to 2,060 in 2018—down one student. While the high school, Oaktree and Reid elementary schools all posted gains in enrollment, the middle school, which include grades sixth-eight dipped by 17 students according to the report. Count day has major financial implications for public schools. The February count represents 10 percent of the per-pupil funding, combined with 90 percent in October. Each student represents $7,631 in state allowance for the district.
Despite the slight downturn in enrollment, Ryan Relken, superintendent said a growth period is expected for the district.
“We have seen a swing in the positive direction with a slight increase in enrollment,” said Relken. “The numbers are trending up. What we are seeing now is that Schools of Choice is raising our numbers in kindergarten. We attribute that to the outstanding early elementary program we offer at Reid including “The Leader in Me”. What we are also observing is that our traditional trends of grade level cohorts rising is continuing through the others grades all the way to high school. This, coupled with a hot real estate market, is turning into positive enrollment trends for Goodrich Area Schools.”
Currently about two of every 10 students in the district are School of Choice.
Of the 2,060 students enrolled in the district 453 are School of Choice/non-resident students. In comparison during the 2017 school year, a total of 429 were enrolled in the district as School of Choice/non-resident students.
The school board of trustees voted 7-0 to adopt a resolution exercising the option permitted by Section 105 of the State School Aid Act, to operate a Schools of Choice program and accept applications for enrollment of non-resident students from outside of the district who reside within a constituent district with the Genesee Intermediate School District. The board also voted 7-0 to accept non-resident students from outside of the district who are residents of intermediate school districts contiguous to the Genesee Intermediate School District. The district allow unlimited enrollment in grades K-12.
In April 2010 the school board voted 4-3 to join the state’s Schools of Choice program for the 2010-2011 school year. That year the board voted out of the Genesee County program opting into the state’s school of choice program. The decision opened up enrollment to students from other districts, which allows an unlimited influx of students from outside the district.
At that time about 134 Schools of Choice students from 18 districts in Genesee County were in Goodrich, with 59 students from Grand Blanc, 28 from Davison and 16 who live in the Atherton School District.