After seeing years of enrollment decline, Mesa school leaders were hoping for some stability as classes began in August.
Instead, numbers released Friday show a 2,400-student decline, far more than the projected 700-student loss.
There were 67,220 students attending Mesa Unified School District campuses in the third week of the last school year. Now, there are 64,817. Just five years ago, the start of the 2005 school year, there were 74,000 students in the district.
Mesa's elected governing board met Friday with district leaders in a study session as a starting point to see what this means and what needs to happen to address dozens of campuses running far below capacity -- and the fact that the district will lose at least $12 million in state funding next school year.
"As we're trying to be conservative and careful, we're looking at future budget cuts and declining enrollment," board member Mike Hughes said. "We are going to be faced with very tough decisions."
Friday's discussion did not include any solutions - nor was there specific talk about closing schools. But several budget and program options could be available, Superintendent Mike Cowan said, from changing how schools are administered to adding revenue-generating programs to bringing in additional students to the district. Each student adds about $5,000 to the district's budget.
That could make a big impact. The district has lost $85 million in the last three years, mostly from state budget cuts to education, but also from the district's enrollment decline.
"What's daunting as we plan for next year is not so much the decline in students but what's going to come down from the state," said Gerrick Monroe, assistant superintendent for business and support services.
In January, the board voted to close one junior high school, as well as a few smaller sites, and to alter programs on other campuses. In August, the district started the process of moving ninth-graders to the high schools from the junior highs. Three high schools - Skyline, Westwood and Dobson - now have ninth through 12th grades. Ninth-graders will be moved to Mesa, Mountain View and Red Mountain high schools next school year.
Some of Friday's discussion focused on the positive impact that shift has had on junior highs by lowering the number of students there. District leaders said the junior highs now have more scheduling options, and fewer disciplinary problems have been reported in just the first few weeks of school.
Plus, there may be more positive parent perception since the junior highs are now running with fewer students. Not too long ago, some of the junior highs had 1,100 to 1,300 students.
The board asked the administration to come back with recommendations based on keeping a kindergarten-through-sixth grade model at the elementary schools, seventh and eighth grades at the junior highs, and all ninth- through 12th-graders at the high schools.
Last year there was early discussion about moving the sixth grade to the junior highs, but school leaders as well as board members said that option isn't popular with the community. Board members on Friday indicated they do not want to go in that direction.
Plus, the smaller junior highs may be more attractive to parents. Another piece of the discussion Friday was about how to better market the district and its smaller focus schools like the newly created Summit Academy, back-to-basics Franklin campuses and other programs.
Board members said any decisions need to include consideration for the future, and not just the decline of the last few years.
"It's hard to make projections given what's happened the last two to three years," Joe O'Reilly, the district's executive director for student achievement support, pointed out. "We thought it would stabilize this year, but that's not what's happened."
The district will try to provide the board with a range for future projections, O'Reilly said, by looking at foreclosures, kindergarten classes and other data.
"We cannot underestimate the influence of political action and how it influences our community," Superintendent Cowan told the board. "Whether it's Senate Bill 1070 (the state's new illegal immigration law) or any other piece of legislation, as that goes into effect or is placed permanently on the shelf, it will have a real impact on our community."
Cowan estimated about two-thirds of the student loss this year may be associated with SB 1070, which was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer last spring. Much of the law has been put on hold by the courts, but advocates for immigrants said it spread enough fear among the Hispanic community that some families packed up and moved from the state.
SunWorshiper posted at 7:32 pm on Sat, Sep 11, 2010.
[sad] OK, I don't claim to have the best math skills, but if 2/3's of the 2400 students gone from MPS (with SB1070 the assumed reason), that's about 1600 less students....students that I am ASSUMING are children of illegal aliens that were living amongst us. That, times the $5K per student cost, is $8 MILLION We the People of Arizona are paying to educate someone else's children when that someone shouldn't be here to begin with. Is that $5K per student the FULL cost or are there other hidden elements (say free breakfast/lunch, ELL, transportation costs, summer schools, etc., come to mind).
That's a lot of money that We the People of Arizona could probably be spending on other budgetary items right about now.
Then, again, maybe this is only the beginning of other "benefits" for our U.S. children in AZ schools:
smaller class room sizes, more teacher/pupil interaction time, less spent on ELL that would free up $$$ for other classroom education of all students not just the ones needing ELL.
Gee, maybe this is the beginning of one day AZ students will be moving up from the lower rungs of the national rankings by this reduction in students??
CooperG posted at 10:51 pm on Sat, Sep 11, 2010.
Don't forget there's another side of the economic equation: the lost economic contribution of those families. The bought food, clothing, rented apartments and homes, While this may "save" the state some money, the overall costs to the state will be significantly higher.
As the saying goes "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."
soricobob posted at 5:32 am on Sun, Sep 12, 2010.
There are many factors contributing to the loss of students, but the one which is "controllable" is charter school regulations. The State of Arizona needs to put a leash on charter schools: 1. Pay less per student for charter schools than public schools since charter schools are not required to have the same personnel (certified teachers, Superintendent, etc.); 2. Start examining the finances of charter schools which proliferate , and find out who is getting paid what; 3. Finally, do to charter schools what you do to public schools that do not perform.
Mesa Citizen posted at 12:14 pm on Sun, Sep 12, 2010.
There should be lay-offs...
But then again we are talking government...
There will probably be pay raises in the near future...
Mesa Citizen posted at 3:58 pm on Sun, Sep 12, 2010.
Why don't you just have a firing squad and shoot all of us that want you to cut spending...
Will that make all union people feel better...
mesateacher posted at 4:42 pm on Sun, Sep 12, 2010.
I don't think all of the declining enrollment is due to SB1070, maybe some. But there are other things going on. Mesa is no longer a desirable place to move to is one reason. Thanks to myopic leadership over the past 20 years, you've lost businesses like crazy. How many Motorola plants were demolished? What replaced them? You let low income neighborhoods deteriorate to the point that parts of Mesa look like a 3rd world city. The lack of leadership has cost the city once thriving arts institutions. The Mesa Museum has never become a great one. The Mesa Symphony is history. Remember when they gave marvelous, free concerts at the Mesa Amphitheater? No more.
So who wants to move there? Then, there's the school district itself. Again, lack of visionary leadership has turned a once proud and great district into a 3rd rate one that no one in the state looks to for leadership. The upper administration is not composed of scholarly people, but it's full of "professional educators" with their EdDs. They don't understand what goes on in classrooms, they're out of touch with teachers, and spend most of their time on public relations. The sad truth is that there are competing district and charter schools that are doing a much better job of educating kids, and parents who demand a 21st c quality education are moving the kids to those schools. If MPS wants to attract kids back, they must improve the quality of their education and make it world class. Raise standards higher. Not lower them like you've been doing. Demand students work, dress properly, and learn. Then maybe people will take you seriously.
As far as budget cuts go, there are a lot of highly paid administration types on Main Street, Stapely and Country Club who can go and teachers won't notice.
Finally, the union is not part of the problem in Mesa. When only 30% of the district teachers belong, the union is almost insignificant.
trigama posted at 6:22 pm on Sun, Sep 12, 2010.
Alright now mps can use these teachers to help the other get our somewere close to surpassing the national average!
Tookie88 posted at 7:21 pm on Sun, Sep 12, 2010.
I agree with soricobob...Charter schools do need to be treated like public schools.
I am a public school teacher and we get many students from charter schools who are two to three years behind grade level! Then we have to spend most of the school year trying to get them caught up.
Plus there are too many charter schools in this state....all with a different focus, little accountability, and a lot of questionable accounting practices.
I also agree with the person who posted about Mesa no longer being a desirable place to live. Outside of the Northeast area of Mesa, I would have to agree. What is there in Mesa anyway??? NOTHING!