Hartland Reports Slight Student Enrollment Increase

A slight bump in enrollment numbers could mean additional state support next year for the Hartland School District, following the Feb. 9 pupil count day that showed an increase of nine students over the Fall 2010 numbers.

But any monetary gains might get wiped away later this year or turn into reductions as reports in Lansing continue to mention possible cuts in the state K-12 education funding as federal stimulus dollars dry up. Gov. Rick Snyder's budget is to be released later this week, according to The Associated Press, but a final funding number won't be determined until the Legislature approves the budget expected by summer.

"In the past we have seen a dip in the February count," Superintendent Janet Sifferman said. "That is good news that we at least maintained and stayed close to the same."

Scott VanEpps, assistant superintendent of personnel and student services, announced the unaudited student count numbers at Monday evening's school board meeting. VanEpps also reported that the district is up 71 students from its count in February 2010. The current district enrollment is 5,606.

VanEpps also noted that 46 applications for school of choice were received for second semester and 46 students were enrolled. Twenty-two were new students.

"The key there is that 24 of those were students presently enrolled that have since moved, and there might be a few who were here on tuition," VanEpps said.

Hartland receives $7,426 per student from the state foundation allowance, but many expect that number to drop with the state facing a fiscal crisis. The February enrollment accounts for 25 percent of the blended count and will be combined with the September 2011 numbers to determine funding for the next year.

The board also unanimously approved the purchase of 10 new school buses for a total cost of $895,260. The funds for the purchase come from bond money that was set aside to purchase new buses over a three year period, according to Scott Bacon, assistant superintendent of business and operations.

Hartland has a shared services agreement for busing with the Livingston Educational Service Agency, but chose to retain its own fleet of buses as part of that contract.