Chelsea State Bank ad

Chelsea School District Student Count Down This Year

By Crystal Hayduk

Superintendent Mike Kapolka said the Chelsea School District’s (CSD) unofficial student count, held Oct. 5, is 2,306—a reduction of about 39 students from last October’s verified count of 2,344.86

The verified count last February was 2,327.31. (Decimal places denote students who are not able to be counted as full-time students, such as those who have a part-time schedule or homeschool students who attend only for specific classes.)

According to state guidelines, districts have 30 calendar days to capture numbers for students who were enrolled on Oct. 5, but had an excused absence. Students with an unexcused absence have 10 days, and suspended students have 45 days to be present and accounted for.

Because the district’s funding is based on the number of students, an accurate student count is especially important for securing every dollar. CSD will receive a foundation allowance of $9,150 per student from the state this school year, an increase of $450 over the 2021-22 foundation allowance of $8,700.

The money districts receive each school year is based on a blend of two count days. The State Aid for 2022-23 will be calculated using 10% of the student count from February 2022 and 90% of the October 2022 count.

The district’s count includes 90 School of Choice students (SOC)—21 students newly enrolled in August 2022.

There are currently 10 international students and two foreign exchange students.    

Not included in the SOC numbers are 20 non-resident students who are children of employees.

“As we track student enrollment in the Chelsea School District throughout the year, we take into account trends in enrollment over time paired with data related to School of Choice open slots, students exiting the district, and Washtenaw County birth rates,” said Kapolka. “These data points assist in our budgeting process heading into the next academic school year, but are also used to help determine areas of growth as we focus on student retention and School of Choice options for the district.”  

CSD began accepting SOC students in 2018. The board of education reviews the SOC policy annually. It was most recently reviewed at the work session held on Sept. 26. No change was made to the existing policy.

The next legislated count day will be Feb. 8, 2023.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email