Most area schools face enrollment declines
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Certified student enrollment numbers have been released by the Iowa Department of Education. “Certified enrollment” is calculated to arrive at state funding amounts for the following school year. State aid amounts agreed to in this legislative session won’t kick in until the 2025-2026 school.
Four factors are included in the calculation – total resident student population, students open enrollment out of district, students paying tuition to attend out of district, and services provided to homeschool students. Each student enrolled in a school district receives a weighting of 1.0. School districts may count students at a weighting greater than 1.0 if those students attend or participate in specified programs or meet certain criteria. Districts may also receive supplemental weighting for sharing of services with another district. As a result, certified enrollment numbers often reflect a factional number.
Certified enrollment is crucial to a district’s financial bottom line. In the 2024-2025 school year, districts receive $7,826 per pupil in State Supplemental Aid.
Declining enrollments continues to pose a challenge for area school district budgets. In the official student “headcount” conducted in October, all but three area school districts reported higher certified enrollments than they had five years ago.
Chariton recorded a 5% increase while enrollments at both Lenox and Clarke grew by less than 3%. Bedford recorded flat enrollment numbers.
All other area districts reported enrollment losses, some quite significant. For example, Corning has recorded a 30.5% enrollment decline over the past five years. The Corning and Villisca districts currently whole grade share in grade 6-12 and are in the process of merging their two districts.
Orient-Macksburg reported a 20.4% loss over five years. Patrons in the O-M district will vote later this year whether to dissolve their district.
Other area school districts recording 5-year certified enrollment declines of 10% or higher include Diagonal, East Union, Martensdale-St. Marys, Melcher-Dallas, Moravia, Mormon Trail, Seymour, and Twin Cedars.
