There’s Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and then there’s Count Day.
Oct. 3 was “Count Day,” the specified day during the fall that the school district must count the number of students in the schools. This number is blended with a second count day number to determine how much money the district will be allotted by the state.
“K-12 enrollment appears to be essentially flat compared to last fall,” said Chelsea Superintendent of Schools Andy Ingall via email.
Last year, there were 2,465 students in grades K-12 and the district’s base foundation grant is $7,180 per pupil.
“I expect the final audited number to +/-2 of that as we calculate all the partial pieces for home school participants,” he said, adding, “We are actually very pleased to be at a ‘break even’ point with enrollment.”
“This is the first time in several years that we have not seen a decline in total enrollment,” he said.
The district’s preliminary budget was based on a projected loss of 40 students, “so this helps our budget by about $280,000,” he said.
The K-5 enrollment is down a bit, primarily due to a small kindergarten class, which is 17 students less than last year.
The 6-12 enrollment is up, with significant gains at the 6th and 9th grades, he said.
