The number of Schools of Choice students are increasing in Goodrich.
On Monday night the school board of trustees voted 7-0 to adopt a resolution exercising the option permitted by Section 105 of the State School Aid Act, to operate a Schools of Choice program and accept applications for enrollment of non-resident students from outside of the district who reside within a constituent district with the Genesee Intermediate School District.
The board also voted 7-0 to accept non-resident students from outside of the district who are residents of intermediate school districts contiguous to the Genesee Intermediate School District. The district allow unlimited enrollment in grades K-12.
As of March 24 the board reported 348 students in Schools of Choice comprising about 17 percent of the district’s enrollment, boosting the coffers by more than $2.5 million each year. A total of 68 Schools of Choice students were new for 2014-15.
Students from 13 school districts from within Genesee County now attend Goodrich including: 154 from Grand Blanc; 39 from Davison; 33 from Atherton; 18 from Flint; 13 from Carman-Ainsworth;13 from Bentley; four from Fenton; four from Kearsley; four from Bendle; three from Lakeville; three from Swartz Creek; two from Lake Fenton and one from Beecher. Students from outside Genesee County include 31 from Brandon; 15 from Holly; 29 from Lapeer and two from Oxford.
‘In a perfect world we would not need Schools of Choice,? said David Cramer, school board president, prior to the vote on Monday night. ‘Today there are less kids. Less kids means less money. It’s fiscally responsible. Right now we have 185 high school seniors graduating this spring. We also have 120 kindergarten students this year. That’s a 65 kid hole and at $7,000 per student that’s a big hole to fill. We have to do it. Are we taking away students from other schools? Yes we are. But given the way we are funded these days, there’s no choice.?
Over the past five years Schools of Choice at Goodrich has grown.
In April 2010 the school board voted 4-3 to join the state’s Schools of Choice program for the 2010-2011 school year. That year the board voted out of the Genesee County program opting into the state’s school of choice program. The decision opened up enrollment to students from other districts, which allows an unlimited influx of students from outside the district.
At that time about 134 Schools of Choice students from 18 districts in Genesee County were in Goodrich, with 59 students from Grand Blanc, 28 from Davison and 16 who live in the Atherton School District. A total of 47 attended Goodrich from outside Genesee County, including 20 from the Brandon School District, 15 from the Lapeer School District and seven from the Holly School District.
Considering during the 2009-10 school year the Goodrich School District had only 41 students apply for Schools of Choice program, with a limit of 22 students under the Genesee County Schools of Choice program. Following a lottery for the openings, the remaining 19 applicants were also accepted later, after school officials from their home school released the students to Goodrich.