FUESD manages fourth year of declining enrollment

Falling enrollment in Fallbrook area schools is having serious impact on financial planning for districts that depend heavily on receiving their total Average Daily Attendance (ADA) for state funding.

Followed by property taxes and federal sources, in that order, total ADA, drawn from Proposition 98 – which provides for minimum state funding to schools – is defined as the total days of student attendance divided by the total days of instruction.

According to the California Department of Education, “...under the Budget Act of 2006, schools [received] Proposition 98 funding averaging $8,244 in 2006-07, or $467 per pupil above the revised 2005-06 level.” If calculating the expected funds to run Fallbrook schools wasn’t difficult enough, given the strings attached by laws, having fewer students than expected show up for school further complicates this difficult situation.

According to Dr. Janice Schultz, superintendent of the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District, “Fifty percent of the school districts in California are suffering from declining enrollment.”

Schultz says this is in part due to increased cost of housing in the coastal plain that extends to the low mountains, and interior valleys adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, from San Francisco to San Diego.

However, not all school districts are so affected. Districts showing growth include those in Riverside and San Bernardino counties and those areas with more affordable housing, Schultz says.

Contributing to the enrollment decline in the Fallbrook district is displacement of military personnel due to construction changes at San Onofre II and demolition of the base-housing mobile home park.

“Ultimately, these housing areas will come back on line and our enrollment should pick up,” Schultz says.

This is the fourth year of declining enrollment at FUESD, and as such, Schultz says the impact to budget is significant.

“While you can cut the cost of a teacher, you still have school support staff, electrical bills, et cetera that are no longer supported by the same amount of ADA,” she says. “For example, we pay for a principal at a school with 400 students just as we do for a school with 600 students; we turn on the lights in a room with 25 kids or 32 kids. The cost per pupil is the variable.”

Of some help will be the possible addition of students from the Apostolic Assembly School who are interested in receiving music and technology instruction at Iowa Street School.

“For several years, Iowa Street School has had co-enrollment with two private schools – Mountain View and Methodist School – whereby their students receive curriculum guides, textbooks, access to our computer lab, resource room and weekly workshops,” says Tom Rhine, principal, Iowa Street School. “This arrangement is called Independent Study, which is how we get funding for all our home school students. These students, per state law, must turn in work samples every month.”

FUESD offers these resources to private school students. In return, the district receives funding.

At present, 10 students who attend St. Peter’s receive music instruction at Iowa Street and have access to their curriculum and other resources.

“Independent Study benefits all students in the district,” says Rhine. “This additional state funding, which is based on student enrollment (ADA), helps to offset the declining enrollment in the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District.”

Schultz notes when they budget they consider staffing needs very conservatively.

By law, school districts must notify teachers of a potential layoff by March 15. This, in full knowledge they won’t have funding numbers from the state until June 30 or after, when the state’s budget is adopted.

It is an uncomfortable time for teachers and administrators and one Schultz approaches cautiously.

“We always lay off more teachers than we end up needing to lay off. As teachers announce retirement, or the enrollment picture becomes clearer, we hire back our staff. Once school starts, we don’t lay off teachers,” she says.

While FUESD does not anticipate making any budget cuts this year, Schultz warns, “You heard the governor announce a financial emergency, and that will mean next year is very lean.”