Madison classrooms emptier

"Honey, I Shrank the Schools," sounds like it could be the title for a Rick Moranis comedy movie sequel. But shrinking schools are no laughing matter to Madison County school officials.

Although the physical dimensions of Madison's school buildings are staying the same, fewer students are walking the halls these days. That could mean less state money for the school system.

School officials reported yet another drop in enrollment last week. As of March 31, Madison County Public Schools’ average daily number of students was down to 1,814, officials said at the school board’s April 22 budget workshop meeting. That’s 15 fewer students than school system representatives reported in January.

Since the first day of school in August 2008 – when the school system reported an enrollment less than 1,800 – the numbers have been going up and down, according to officials.

Although the school board based its current budget on an enrollment running about 25 students higher than the most recent county, the March 31 number is the one state officials use to base how much money the county is to receive from the state during the current year.

(Although state funding payments are made to the schools throughout the year prior to the reporting of the actual March 2009 enrollment numbers, they are not final until the actual enrollment is reported and may be adjusted as enrollment projections change, according to the Virginia Department of Education’s Web site.)

While the school system has been losing students overall, the losses have been partially offset by some newly enrolling students as well, Superintendent Brenda Tanner told the board at the meeting.

“There’s a lot of mobility,” she said.

School officials are currently “tracking the coming and going of students” and expect to give a report to the board at the end of the school year outlining details of the enrollment changes, according to Tanner.

The school system also plans to track the children whose parents signed them up for school during Madison Primary School’s kindergarten and pre-school program registration and which students’ follow through and start school later that year. This will help the school figure the “likelihood” that those who register in the spring will end up in classes in the fall.

In January, school officials drafted the school system’s initial version of its budget using a 1,810 expected enrollment figure for the 2009-2010 school year. But with the continuing decline, school system representatives are now drafting their revised budget with enrollment at 1,800 for the coming school year, school officials said last week.

While the county’s schools will likely receive less state money during the coming fiscal year due to the lower enrollment, the state is expected to provide the schools’ about $16,000 in “enrollment loss” funds, Tanner said at the meeting.