Enrollment at Mount Ayr up slightly from last year
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The certified enrollment for the Mount Ayr Community Schools increased slightly from 595.8 students in the 2021-2022 school year to 598.3 in the 2022-2023 school year.
A comparison of last years and this years certified enrollment data , showed minor changes.
Of particular concern was the current change to open enrollment procedures.
The new open enrollment standards allow parents to change their students enrollment without giving demonstrated need.
The new standard also repealed the previous school year March 1 deadline to change schools.
Records from the Iowa Department of Education (DOE) indicated slight fluctuations, with most districts showing a minor down trend or remaining negligible.
(Fractional numbers result from algorithms the DOE uses to determine state aid to schools, usually based on the specific needs of the student body.)
Diagonal’s certified enrollment also increased from 109 to 112 students over the past two school years.
It costs approximately $7,000 per student in state aid.
In Previous years, any decrease in enrollment negatively impacts school district budgets.
However, with the current budget security agreements adopted by many schools, which prevents excessive budget changes due to unexpected enrollment shrinkage, helps to mitigate this student aid loss.
Mount Ayr Superintendent Jason Shaffer, commented that there hasn’t been a significant impact on student enrollment during the current year, and attributed the uptrend in enrollment to the districts “quality academic standards and culture.”
The accompanying chart shows similar trends across the schools in the region.
Certified enrollment comparison
22-23 21-22
Bedford 501.8 486.7
CAM 463.9 466.3
Central Decatur 642.7 643.8
Chariton 1,271.3 1,252.3
Clarke 1,442.5 1,407.5
Corning 1,382.1 412.4
Creston 1397 1402
Diagonal 112 109
East Union 472.5 482
Nodaway Valley 626.5 615.5
Indianola 3,436.6 3,474.5
Interstate 35 838.8 847.3
Lamoni 336.8 313.4
Lenox 450.4 450.3
Martensdale-St. Marys 511.4 507
Mormon Trail 211.6 219.3
Mount Ayr 598.3 695.8
Murray 221.8 224.9
Orient-Macksburg 178.1 176.9
Wayne 574.5 576.4
Winterset 1,667.3 1,702.4
State totals 486,475.5 485,630.4
