Develop a Student Centered Five-Year Plan for Dealing With Declining Enrollment 

A student-based 5-year improvement strategy that increases quality while dealing with declining enrollment is essential. A plan that only deals with finances isn't a complete plan. A plan must begin with what we need to accomplish for our students, then sort out how we can best fund the plan.

I support a declining enrollment strategy with student achievement, not just dollars, at the core.
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Because each building functions differently due to the age and needs of the students who attend, I would support declining enrollment strategies targeted to each building.
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I support fully utilizing existing staff before hiring additional personnel, then facing the need to cut programs for students.
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I support a strategy that will help us live within our budget and not hurt students.

Our student enrollment has declined over the past 10 years and it may, according to data on the Department of Education web site, decline even further.   I firmly believe our community will experience a turn-around in population due to the extraordinary efforts of many people working for economic development. That said, we recognize that enrollment may continue to decline before we see a turn-around. 

We need an educational plan that will not only help us deal with declining financial resources, but will also enable us to maintain top quality services for children within our budget.  Putting students first is our mission and a 5-year plan needs to put students first by finding ways to increase student achievement while holding the line on expenses. 

  • First, identify the essential learnings needed in our curriculum for today's students.
  • Then look at the numbers of students we have and the staff needed to deliver the curriculum.
  • Finally, make adjustments in staffing to deal with the smaller class sizes. Sometimes the adjustments will mean a reduction. More often the adjustment will involve a change in part of a teaching assignment.

It is not up to the board to devise the specific ways and means of improving achievement while living within our budget.  It is up to the board to be firm in insisting that student data is used to provide evidence of what needs to go, what needs to stay, and how we can change our educational delivery system to make this happen and live within our budget.