By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
Although the talk of the town has been that Orion Township’s population is increasing with the slew of new residential sites being built, school board members are wondering why they haven’t seen that increase in student enrollment.
In fact, enrollment has been on the decline since 2010.
Since that year, a net total of 442 full time equivalent students (FTE) have vanished, costing the Lake Orion district almost $3.47 million in student funding from the state.
Had it not been for the funding received from the 235 Schools of Choice (SOC) students Lake Orion raked in the last two years, the financial impact could have eventually closed a school.
The Lake Orion school district first offered the SOC program in 2012-2013 to kindergarten through second grade students. The program allows non-resident students an opportunity to enroll in a district other than their own resident district.
Last year the district expanded the program to include kindergarten through eighth grade students, along with the pre-kindergarten developmental class.
Because enrollment is not expected to pick up in the next couple years, the Lake Orion district is looking to expand the SOC program once again.
Board members will discuss and make a decision on the program expansion at the Nov. 12 all day board workshop. Administration is proposing an additional 100 students to the current K-8 and pre-K program, which would offer a maximum of about 335 seats to out of district students for the 2015-2016 year.
A total of 54 students who enrolled in 2013-2014 and 181 students from the current year 2014-2015 have cushioned lost student funding to the district.
The 235 SOC students brought in about $1.8 million of state-aid in student foundation allowance, which decreased the total funding loss by about $1.6 million.
Although technically district resident students still declined by 442 students, when adding the SOC students to the pot, that number shrinks to a 207-student decline since 2010.
‘The bottom line is we really want to maintain our programs for the resident students in the district,? superintendent Marion Ginopolis said. ‘Opening up SOC is acting as a placeholder until we start to realize the growth we anticipate, which will take a few years.?
Since 2011 the general fund equity has dropped from $14.3 million’or 18 percent of total expenditures’to about $8.4 million, or 10.7 percent of total expenditures as a result of using the general fund to maintain classroom programs and balance the budget, Ginopolis said.
‘We are at the lowest level maintained by our board policy, between 10 and 15 percent, and we’re at the point where we can’t dip into that anymore.?
Ginopolis presented the board with not only enrollment data tracked since 2010, but also information on where the vanishing students have transferred.
In the 2012-2013 fiscal year, 35 percent of students who left Lake Orion schools enrolled in other districts in Oakland County. Twenty-six percent of students went to other districts in Michigan outside of Oakland County, 18 percent left the state completely, 10 percent went to private/parochial schools, three percent were home schooled and eight percent represented a miscellaneous population of students who either dropped out or switched to an alternative form of education. Of those students who left the district in the 2012-2013 year, 47 percent were elementary students, 18 percent were middle schoolers, and 35 percent were high school students.
These numbers are good to reference, Ginopolis said, to make sure these students are not enrolling in other county districts that offer the SOC program, such as Clarkston and Oxford schools.
More information tracking county enrollment data will be presented at the Nov. 12 all-day workshop before the board makes a decision.
‘With respect to houses coming in, there is a pretty standard rule of thumb formula that you could expect a house on average would generate in terms of future students,? Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance John Fitzgerald said. ‘Today that rule doesn’t apply very much anymore.?
Fitzgerald said that the large amount of residential construction has raised everything from single unit condos to much larger footprint family housing.
‘So the tricky part now is forward forecasting. What are we really going to get in terms of our student output from new housing? It really boils down to you just have to wait and see what shows up.?
The real question at this point, he continued, is whether the incoming families are going to offset the combination of families who are moving out as well as demographics.
‘Speculation on my part is due to the high cost of entry level homes in Orion, we’re discouraging entry-level families from moving here,? Trustee Bill Holt said.
Trustee Steven Drakos disagreed.
‘You are looking at it from a different perspective than I am. You’re looking at how they come in, I’m looking at how current residents are leaving the schools,? Drakos said.
Since January 1, 2014, Oakland County has issued a total of 125 new building permits in Orion Township.
Total student enrollment for the current year, 2014-2015, was up by 121 students, however, 181 of those students were SOC kids, implying resident student count went down by 60 resident students for the present year.
For the 2013-2014 year a total of 124 students left the district, but with 54 SOC students, that number leveled out at a net loss of 70 kids. In the 2012-2013 year before the SOC program was installed, a total of 147 students moved to other districts, with 57 students leaving after the 2011-2012 year.
‘If students are leaving at the end of their elementary school career, I think we can do a lot to keep them here. Educate the parents that there is no need to be afraid of attending the middle schools, although I’m not saying that is the issue. For the percentage leaving the state, I have to assume it’s not because they are dissatisfied with Lake Orion, they just have a valid reason to leave.?
Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Heidi Mercer said she has not reviewed one exit survey from families who have moved on from Lake Orion that was unsatisfactory, and that most students leave for relocation purposes.