APS continues to lose students
Phil WenzelAlpena Public Schools continues to lose students.
Since September, 223 students have left the district for one of several reasons, said Pat Sampier, assistant superintendent for instruction. The arrival of 166 new students has offset some of that, but it continues a trend that has gone on at APS for years.
“I would base it on the economy,” Sampier said. “There are no jobs for their parents so they have to move.”
According to numbers Sampier supplied during the APS Board of Education’s regular meeting Tuesday, 79 students moved elsewhere in Michigan and 29 left the state. Another 45 were high school dropouts, 41 left the high school but enrolled at ACES Academy, seven enrolled in parochial schools, three left for home schooling and the rest left for other reasons.
APS ended up with 57 fewer students in head count, but 82.25 fewer full-time equivalent students. FTE is an average of the amount of total time students spend in class throughout the district.
FTE may be a more important number than head count. Officials in Lansing base 75 percent of a district’s state aid payment on its fall FTE count and the other 25 percent on its winter count, which districts completed in February.
Despite the losses, Superintendent Brent Holcomb said he is not alarmed.
“The numbers were fairly predictable,” he said.
He said APS is building its 2008-09 budget around a belief the district will lose about 100 students this year. That would equal about $700,000 in state aid, he said.
“We think we’re going to be able to weather that,” Holcomb said.
The district is holding out hope that there will be a per-student increase in state aid for next year. That hopefully would offset the loss, he said.
In other business:
? The board approved a budget amendment noting that APS administration will use an extra $182,000 out of the district’s fund balance. However, the district is still about $80,000 below its original projection of using $1.28 million from the fund this year, Holcomb said.
? Board members approved an agreement allowing APS to serve as a fiscal agency for distributing federal career and technical education money to other school districts in the area.
Holcomb said there are 8-9 districts in the area working together on the CTE funds, made available through the Carl D. Perkins CTE Act of 2006. The cooperation gives them a chance at securing more money for CTE programs, he said.
“The money that comes in, it’s probably ... in the ballpark of a half a million dollars,” Holcomb said.
Phil Wenzel can be reached via e-mail at pwenzel@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689.
