Removing open enrollment deadline still causing planning issues for district

Newton Community School District has gained a few students since it submitted its certified count to the state in October, but the district is still seeing a decline in enrollment from the previous school year and it is still struggling with the effects of removing the open enrollment deadline.

During the school board meeting on Jan. 9, superintendent Tom Messinger said from November to December, the school district was down four students: down one at Emerson Hough, down three at Thomas Jefferson, up one at Woodrow Wilson and down one at the middle school.

“We are down 43 students from the start of the year,” he said. “But if you look at the report in October, after the count date was the most we had been down since the start. And that was down 57 students. So we’ve gained a few since that point in time. I can also tell you we had four more students enrolled today.”

Enrollment continues to change, Messinger added. School board member Donna Cook asked if there were any specific points or reasonings the district could give to legislators to fix or address the effects of removing the open enrollment deadline, like making it easier to track for the district and the state.

There are arguments that can be pointed out, Messinger said. In particular, he noted a public school advocates group statement said the money a school district would receive from the state for 13 kids is roughly equivalent to a full-time teacher. Which could pose a problem for schools with declining enrollment.

“But you can’t reduce a teacher because first of all not all of them (the students) are going to come from the same classroom or same grade level,” Messinger said. “…So it does have an impact after the budget is already set and you’ve already made your staffing plans. It’s really early to tell.”

The 2022-2023 school year is the first year without an open enrollment deadline.

Robyn Friedman, chair of the NCSD Board of Education, asked Messinger if the talking point is: school districts would appreciate having a deadline again.

“Because that would at least have a cutoff point,” she said. “That is part of the major problem. We understand the intention of it, but what it became in practice without a deadline has become more of a problem. So in terms of speaking to legislators, if you’re going to alter this slightly, still give us a deadline.”

More specifically a deadline for when it would end in a school year. Messinger said the biggest reason why schools have a deadline is because they also have deadlines for when budgets have to be established and deadlines for notifying staff of any staffing changes.

“It’s important to recruit and hire teachers in a timely manner as well,” she said. “For planning purposes, a deadline does make a difference for us.”