FLINT, MI – An unanticipated shortfall in the Flint School District’s student count this week could cost the financially struggling district $2.95 million in state aid.
The district reported 7,280 students on Wednesday, which is a loss of 1,144 students from last year’s fall count.
In the past, that has meant closing school buildings, laying off hundreds of teachers and selling buildings.
The count number is 420 students short of the 7,700 that former interim Flint schools Chief Financial Officer Linda Holloway projected in the district's deficit elimination plan approved by the Michigan Department of Education.
District officials could not be reached for comment on Thursday, Oct. 3, but in an email to board of education members interim Superintendent Larry Watkins said the deficit reduction plan will have to be changed if the lower enrollment numbers stand after the figures have been confirmed.
"The state has requested that we submit our count figures to them by Oct. 9," he wrote. "Therefore, we will need to adjust our DEP."
Flint is the midst of a $15.8 million deficit. Michigan law requires that any school that projects a deficit must create a plan to get out of the deficit. The MDE approved Flint's plan in August.
Last year, the closing of Bryant Elementary was one of three elementary schools shuttered to save money. Reduction of 21.5 staff members, eliminating custodians, waste pick up and reducing utility costs and grounds maintenance saved the district $1.9 million.
The district has 10 days to adjust the figure for students with an unexcused absence, which can change the figure. Students with an excused absence have 30 days to be reported, while suspended students can be counted up to 45 days later.
School districts on average will receive $7,026 in per-pupil funding during the 2013-14 school year, with the fall count accounting for 90 percent and February 2014 count making up the remaining 10 percent of the grant award.
“What we would expect is that if there is a change in the number of pupils attending Flint schools, that they revise their DEP and budget accordingly,” said MDE Spokeswoman Jan Ellis.
Ellis also said it is common for districts in a deficit to have to resubmit DEP plans following student counts.
The state does not mandate what the district puts in its DEP, just that the benchmarks Flint says it will meet are realistic.
“These conservative decreases raise concern when compared to the district’s trend over the last three years,” the MDE said while approving the district’s DEP in August. “If the district is unable to meet these enrollment projections, it will be expected to institute expenditure reductions in order to meet the fund balance targets entailed in the plan.”
In recent years, Flint has closed school buildings to cut costs.
There were $4 million in savings when Flint closed Bryant, Dort and Washington elementary schools, but reopened Brownell as part of the district’s new science, technology, engineering and math campus.
The district also sold the Genesee Area Skill Center, the land it sits on and the equipment inside to the Genesee Intermediate School District for $2.5 million in August.
A Flint school board member said he believes the final count numbers will be lower than what the district has reported.
“The (enrollment) numbers don’t sound right to me, but we’ll see what the state says,” said board member David Davenport. “I don’t see it adding up. I think they padded it just a little bit.”
Alisa Calvert said she wasn’t surprised that Flint came out lower than projections.
“A lot of people have taken their kids out of Flint schools,” she said, adding that she has never considered pulling her kids from the district. “This year there are more students (at Doyle-Ryder) than there were last year.”
Calvert also said she sees Flint’s financial woes in her son’s classroom materials.
Last year, he got a math study book with practice problems he could complete.
“This year, the practice book is used,” Calvert said. “The problems are already filled out.”
Dominic Adams is a reporter for MLive-Flint Journal. Contact him at dadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.