Wednesday, September 26, 2007 marked the first of two official “count days” for student enrollment at Traverse City Area Public Schools and at public school districts across the state of Michigan. School districts are required to report student enrollments as of September and February in order to receive per pupil foundation grant funds from the State of Michigan. In 2006-2007, the per pupil foundation grant funds received from the State were $7,085 per student. The State has not yet finalized the K-12 funding for the 2007-2008 school year.

“Count days are of critical importance for our school system and all school districts. Michigan public schools receive operational funding from the State based on a formula that looks at pupil enrollments. Seventy-five percent of our per pupil funding is based on the September ‘count day’ attendance, and the remaining amount is based on the February ‘count day’ attendance,” explained Christine Davis, TCAPS’ Executive Director of Human Resources.

TCAPS’ total K-12 head count for this first official count day is 10,326 students. As the 2007-2008 year gets underway, we are welcoming approximately 737 new kindergartners into our schools.  “We are always monitoring enrollments and the movement of students throughout the year at every school and across grade levels. For instance, in 2006-2007, there were 910 senior students who exited TCAPS. While the number of exiting seniors is more than the number of entering kindergartners, TCAPS continues to carefully track our enrollments and compared to last year our overall K-12 head count has decreased by 153 students as of this first count day,” noted Davis.

“Our school system is pleased to offer students and families choices that include open enrollment within TCAPS as well as schools of choice enrollment within the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District,” remarked TCAPS’ Superintendent Jim Feil. “Again this year, more students have joined TCAPS than have left the district. However, we recognize the critical need to focus resources on maintaining and recruiting students given the tough economy of our state, which has also contributed in part to tough decisions that have involved the recent closing of schools at TCAPS. In the 2006-2007 school year, there were 236 students who left our schools due to their families leaving the state. This year so far, an additional 126 students have left our schools to move out-of-state. That totals 362 students who are no longer with us,” noted Feil.

“TCAPS remains dedicated to offering children and families a broad array of high quality programs to meet their needs from early childhood through high school. We recognize that many families in our community are looking for convenience to childcare and work. Additionally, TCAPS continues to offer program options such as public school Montessori, Gifted and Talented, and SCI-MA-TECH in response to the community’s desire for these choices,” emphasized Superintendent Feil.

For additional information, contact Christine Davis, TCAPS’ Executive Director of Human Resources, at 933-1711.