By Crystal Hayduk
Students who were present in Chelsea District Schools on Valentine’s Day gave administration a little extra love, since it was Michigan’s second official count day of the 2017-18 school year.
Chelsea Superintendent Julie Helber reported that the preliminary student count on Feb. 14 was 2,459 students, an increase of 15 students from the official count of 2,444 on Oct. 4, 2017.
“This is purely on paper and does not include the actual students in attendance [on Feb. 14],” she said. “As you are aware, we are in the cold and flu season, so attendance is a bit lower than usual. We will have 30 days to count all students who may have missed school. At that point we will have a confirmed count.”
Districts have until March 21 to send their final count to the intermediate school district (ISD). The ISD verifies the count and reports to the state no later than Aug. 1.
It is crucial for districts to have an accurate accounting of the number of children attending school because funding for general school operations is based on that number. Each district receives a Foundation Allowance, a dollar amount multiplied by the number of pupils in school. The February student count represents 10 percent of the funding for the 2018-19 school year.
The other 90 percent will come from the next count day, which is scheduled for Oct. 3, 2018.
According to Michelle Cowhy, executive director of finance and administrative services, the district’s current Foundation Allowance is $7,664 per student.
“We will start getting an idea about next year’s Foundation Allowance in May or June,” said Cowhy. “We generally still have to make a best guess for the preliminary budget for next year because it has to be done by June 30.”
