But officials at the county office of education are keeping a watchful eye on a slight decrease in enrollment, which, in turn, could impact future state funding.
“Our enrollment county-wide has historically increased,” said Ron Wheelehan, Assistant Superintendent, Business and Technology, San Benito County Office of Education. “We hit a pinnacle, so to speak, in 2003 and 2004, and we’ve had kind of a level enrollment since then.”
The county’s rural schools saw the least amount of change in their enrollment figures over the last two years – of the seven rural schools, Southside saw the biggest drop, going from 230 students enrolled for the 2005-06 school year to 217 for the 2006-07 school year.
The Aromas-San Juan Unified School District also saw a slight decrease in enrollment this past school year, losing 14 students since 2005-06. Enrollment in the Hollister School District also dropped, by 76 students, from a total of 5,741 in 2005-06 to 5,665 last year.
Overall, the county’s total enrollment, which includes students participating in special education programs, independent and home study programs and schools such as Pinnacles Community School and the Juvenile Hall Court School, dropped by just four students since last year.
Two districts actually saw a small amount of growth – North County Joint Union School District, home to Spring Grove School, had an increase of 16 this year, while San Benito High School went from 2,395 students in 2005-06 to 2,442 students this year, increasing by 47 students.
“We are at a flat spot,” Wheelehan said.
A major reason for the “flat spot” is a building moratorium imposed by the state on the City of Hollister after 15 million gallons of partially treated sewage spilled into the San Benito River in 2002.
With no new houses being built, new families are not moving to the county, one traditional way school enrollment increases. Another factor is the high cost of the housing that is actually, available, Wheelehan said.
“The cost of housing helps to keep the young families out,” he said. “The people who are already in their houses typically have children who are grown, and we are not seeing those children come back to live with their families.”
Enrollment figures are important because of the Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funds the state gives schools for each student attending school per day. ADA is based on the total number of days of student attendance divided by the total number of days in the regular school year. Funding equals about $30 per day, or almost $5,200 per student each school year, and is based on ADA counts at a district, rather than school, level.
ADA is generally lower, however; as it is based on the number of days each student is actually in school. Factors such as illness, extended vacations, drop outs or extensive cutting of classes, can lower a district’s ADA.
“Parents need to get their children to school,” Wheelehan said. “It doesn’t matter if absences are excused or unexcused – districts don’t get money if students are not in the classroom. Schedule visits to the orthodontist or the doctor after school. Don’t extend that trip to Disneyland past the school’s
vacation time.”
A decline in ADA means less funding to districts, which in turn can mean cuts to staffing and programs, Wheelehan said.
“When enrollment declines, schools get less funding,” he said. “But operating costs continue to go up. Salaries are the number one operating costs a district has, followed by things such as utilities, supplies, and maintenance. In a county where enrollment is flat, such as ours, districts will have to make cuts, and it makes it harder to implement changes. Declining enrollment is the single biggest threat to our educational program.”
Current trends in San Benito County indicate a decline in enrollment of between 1-2 percent over the last three years; other areas, such as Gilroy, have seen declines as high as 10 percent, Wheelehan said.
“Our situation is not drastic enough that we have had to see a school close, but that has happened in areas close to us,” he said. “Right now, we are trying to let attrition take care of as much as possible, such as retirements or staff moving around. But there could be some years coming up were some hard decisions will have to be made.”
Wheelehan said there is some hope at the state level that current declining enrollment trends could soon end.
“Experts are looking at what’s being called the ‘Baby Boom Echo,’” he said. “People born in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s have had their children, and now those children are of child-bearing age. If they have children born in the next 10 years, that’s the echo. The state is anticipating this effect.”
Because of Hollister’s moratorium, however, the Baby Boom Echo is not something county officials can count on to help lessen the effect declining enrollment is having on local districts, Wheelehan said.
“It really helps us very little,” he said. “It just doesn’t put kids who grew up here back into homes with their families today.
