Students arrived for school throughout the district on Sept. 29 as if it was any other day.
But not for administration it wasn’t – it was Count Day. The head count for every student who attended school for the day to help determine how much Clarkston Community Schools would receive in state aid.
The results for the district was 8,210 students. The count is down by 88 students from last year. At current state funding, $7,387 per student, the difference means $650,056 less.
“These numbers are very close to our expected numbers,” said Interim Superintendent David Reschke.
Sashabaw Middle School, grade 6-7, had 1,315 students, up be 25. Clarkston Junior High School, with grades 8-9 was up 19 students from last year with 1,309 students.
Renaissance High School, grades 9-13, was also up with 204 students, up by 20.
Clarkston High School and the elementary schools showed a decline with a combined loss of 109 students.
The high school, housing grades 10-12, was down to 1,888 students, a loss of 30.
The elementary schools loss 79 students, putting them at 3,424. The loss wasn’t a surprise to Reschke.
“The trend has been developing that we are losing elementary enrollments slightly,” he said.
After the trends from the previous years and Michigan’s economic times, the district had planned for a blended enrollment of 8,125 students.
“We should be very close to that by the time the audited counts are calculated,” said Reschke.
The state audits are in December. During the audit process the head counts are turned into full-time equivalent counts. Also, the numbers in the audit is what the state used for aid to the district. A supplemental count is held in February on the second Wednesday and is blended with September.