Student enrollment data for Webster County schools over the past nine school years shows a steady decline which results in less State tax dollars going into the County Board of Education's coffers.
From the 2004-05 school year to the 2012-13 school year, Webster's county-wide student enrollment dropped from 1,624 to 1,493 students over that nine year period. Although the figures vary from year to year, the average yearly drop in enrollment is 14.55 students per year.The Webster County School Board receives 67.8 percent of its revenue from State sources (according to the last fiscal year's budget), including the State Aid Formula. The State Aid Formula provides revenue to the counties depending on the number of students enrolled in a county. The less students enrolled, the less revenue a county Board will have to spend.
In the last fiscal year, the Board spent $17,721,922.00. If we simply divided that figure by the number of students enrolled for the 2012-13 school year, the Board spent an average of $11,870.00 per student. Does that mean for the loss of every student enrollment that the Board will lose $11,870.00? The simple answer is, no.
Some of the Board's revenue is not enrollment dependent, like property tax revenue which accounted for 10.9 percent of all revenues. Additionally, revenue from other sources, including special revenues which vary from year to year, are also not enrollment dependent.
But since the largest share of the Board's revenue is enrollment dependent through the State Aid Formula, it is fair to estimate that the Board will lose approximately $7,100.00 per year for each less student enrolled in the county. Since the county is losing about 14.55 students per year, that translates into a loss of about $103,305.00 per year in revenue.
In recent years, the Board has made cuts to personnel to keep the county's school budget afloat. As previously reported, the Board has experienced a surplus in three out of the last four year's budgets, and this past year's deficit was a meager $1,897.99. Of its expenditures from year to year, over 65 percent of the expenditures are for personnel and administration.
Absent further cuts to personnel, such as those which occurred at this past Tuesday's Board meeting, the Board will likely be faced with adopting other cost-cutting measures, include school consolidation. The bottom line, though, is that the declining student enrollment is taking a serious strain on the Board's finances.
Link to the nine year enrollment data discussed in this article:
Link to Webster County's grade by grade enrollment data for the 2012-13 school year:
Link to Webster County's full time adjusted enrollment data for the 2012-13 school year:
http://wveis.k12.wv.us/nclb/pub/enroll/esumdatap04v1.cfm?cn=091&sn=201&coname=WEBSTER&rpage=index.cfm&rptnum=2b12&year=13&et=2
Link to a discussion of the State Aid Formula (see page 5 of the document):
http://wvde.state.wv.us/finance/files/Policies/Policy%208100%20-%20Public%20School%20Finance.pdf
Link to a discussion of the State Aid Formula (see page 5 of the document):
http://wvde.state.wv.us/finance/files/Policies/Policy%208100%20-%20Public%20School%20Finance.pdf
this is the reason the board must take action-money is gone, expenses CANNOT stay the same or rise. We may not have a major neg balance now, but we will abd the state will come in.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find extremely difficult to understand is why we were told of a 200K + deficit when this all began when that was not the case. The truth is what is sought. Plain and simple. Something else, why are most comments "anonymous". We do live in a democracy, for now, and we are free to share our thoughts and ideas. Challenging authority is principal in which our country was founded and I will proudly admit that I question the decision and will continue to do so until the facts and/or inconsistencies are laid before us.
ReplyDeleteNone the less the County BOE is having money issues. It is not fair for children in one school to have a smaller student/teacher ratio than the others. The BOE needs to address that issue as well as the fiscal future for our children. With that said, if a smaller school has to be closed to benefit the entire County then so be it. Otherwise we will all pay for it later.
ReplyDeleteHow is it any more fair to have children, because they live in a small community, be bused further than state recommendations? How is it any more fair to punish those children by taking them away from there community and force them into larger classrooms in order to be equal? If, and I stress, if, the counties education budget is so minimal than why hasn't our Superintendent or our Board Members agreed to meet with our committees to see if there are any other possible solutions. Dr. Dean has proved quite the financial wizard and money making machine in other counties in order to keep small schools open. All we want is proper consideration. The members of the Diana community, mostly, just want to be ensured that if this is followed through, that it is justified. I am sure any other parent or community member in our other communities in the county would feel the same. I also would like to make the following statement, which I am sure would be flagged as incendiary, not only does student to teacher ratio play an important role in the success here in Diana, it is the involvement of our parents and the lack of a drug riddled community that is here to support and nurture these children. Yes, I said it. Most everyone is thinking it, but I said it. It is obvious that we have drug problems in this county, but we do not see it at the levels our Southern friends in this county do. With that in mind, the children's success or failure cannot all be laid on the student:teacher ratio. It must also be attributed to the lack of support from the parents, home and communities. So, if we want to talk fair, how is it fair that a child be consolidated with these communities purely on a "fairness" basis? Only when it is proven a legitimate last resort should the consolidation be considered.
ReplyDeletelets think about why enrollment has declined and continues to do so shall we? lets see....there are no jobs here, our schools are the worst for bullying, cps takes ppls kids for stupid reasons....noone wants to live here anymore! everyone is leaving....the smart ones who can anyways.
ReplyDeleteInstead of leaving, we need to make changes. Do you trade off your car everytime you need an oil change or new tires? No, you make the necessary changes! I love Webster County and yes, it has it's problems, but I do not want to sit idly by and watch a place I love so much, perish. Stand up and make a difference!
ReplyDelete