Slight decrease was anticipated by district

***EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the count numbers and percentage enrollment decline. The numbers and percentage have been corrected below.***

By Matt Mackinder
Clarkston News Editor

The state of Michigan requires student count days during the course of the school year to reflect funding from the state for each district.
The counts are conducted through student enrollment and daily attendance.
In Clarkston Community Schools, numbers are down from 2021 to 2022.
The fall count from Oct. 2022 was 6,752 FTEs (full-time enrollees), a decrease of 68 students from Oct. 2021.
“The decrease in students for the 2022-23 school year was anticipated,” said CCS Superintendent Dr. Shawn Ryan. “For several years, districts throughout Michigan have seen lower enrollment numbers due to a drop in birth rates throughout the state. Thankfully, our projections for student count and budget were conservative. We planned accordingly and ended up with better numbers than we expected.
“I greatly appreciate the hard work of our leadership team and the support of our board of education as we continue to make the best financial decisions for our district.”
According to the district, funding in 2021-22 was $8,700 per student. In 2022-23, funding is $9,150 per student.
The overall numbers include Young Fives, kindergarten through high school, Clarkston Virtual, post-high school special education, and early childhood special education.
The most recent student count day was Feb. 8, with March 22 being the final certification date for that count.

PHOTO: In December, ninth grade students from Clarkston Junior High went to a fourth grade classroom at Andersonville Elementary for a project where they created a lesson plan and taught the kids. Photo: Provided by Kelly Allen