School district anticipating fewer students next year

Published by admin on Wed, 04/02/2025 - 7:00pm
By: 
Nancy Grindstaff
Unless the Weiser School District Board sees any way around it, they will be basing the next fiscal budget on a lower total student population, which equates to a decrease in state funding.
 Prior to the district’s first “true-up” state payment in November, Deputy Clerk Barbara Choate alerted the trustees to the fact that this year’s final enrollment numbers had come in below what had been anticipated, warning them the district’s funding units would likely follow.
 As it turned out, at least for this year, the built-in protection in the state’s school unit funding formula keeps any district from losing more than three percent of their previous year’s funding in one year. With that protection WSD was preserved at 75 units, above the 72.85 units they had budgeted for this school year, Choate told the WSD Trustees during the March 10 regular monthly meeting.
 But that good news was tempered by some significant rates of student illness during January and February, which puts another layer of pressure on the district’s state revenue receipts.
 “We had a few weeks in January and February where we only had 82 percent attendance,” Choate said. “Ninety-three percent is a low day for us, so it significantly impacts us because we are funded on average daily attendance.”
 Choate said she was submitting an “impacted attendance” letter to the state, and was expecting there would be some adjustments to the incoming revenue as a result of that.
 “We had flu, RSV, pneumonia,” Choate said. “We had it all. Our kids, as well as our staff. We had 17 days of school in February, and had 168 days of absences among staff. We’re submitting that impacted attendance letter, and although it won’t completely restore us, it will allow us to make an adjustment somewhere near the norm.”
 Choate turned to the 2025-2026 budget cycle.
 “We budgeted on 72.85 units this year, but we are going to lose anywhere from 40 to 50 students next year,” Choate said. “We have 137 seniors that are going to graduate, and we’ll have anywhere from 90 to 95 kindergartners coming in, but that difference reduces our total enrollment.”
 Choate said the new subdivision(s) might bring in families with younger children, but there is no way to project that, nor is the impact of this legislative session’s passage of House Bill 93.
 “Where we (might) see the most impact of that is in our homeschooled population,” Choate said. “We may have some parents who decide to homeschool their kids because they’re going to get $5,000 per child with absolutely no reporting requirements and no justification for what they’re doing with those children.
 “But, I don’t have any way of projecting that, so it is my recommendation, and I hope you will charge me with, funding next year’s budget on 70 units,” she said. “Seventy is still a stretch for us, but, then again, it helps if our attendance is improved.
 “Our student population is 1,469, and with a 93 percent attendance on average, we bring that down to 1,300 students very quickly, so we need to encourage our students to be in class,” Choate concluded. “So, 70 units is where the preliminary budget I present to you will be based, unless you want to send me in a different direction.”
 

 

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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