The Gilmer County School System has seen its enrollment decline over the past 16 months.
The district’s full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment in October of the 2019-2020 school year was 4,189, according to the Georgia Department of Education. Fast forward to October of the 2020-2021 academic calendar, and enrollment dropped to 4,111.
The number of students leaving the district has increased since that latest enrollment count, and superintendent Dr. Shanna Downs discussed the trend last Friday and how they have responded.
“The system has experienced a loss of about 160 students from this time last year,” she said. “We waited until all (surrounding)schools were in session (at the start of the 2020-2021 school year) and ran reports to make sure that every student who left us, we knew where they had gone.
“Either the parents moved them to home school, or another county or another state. We made sure we didn’t have any student that just didn’t show up for us and didn’t get claimed by anyone else. They are all accounted for even though they are not with us.”
Of the students who left Gilmer, Downs noted that most switched districts rather than opt for home schooling.
“We originally suspected they either went to the Christian school or went to home school and that isn’t what happened,” Downs said.
Students leaving Gilmer schools is not a new phenomenon. Normally, outgoing students are replaced by new ones who enter the district. Prior to the pandemic, Downs said it was normal to have new families at the central office enrolling students on a weekly basis.
However, those vacated spots are no longer being filled.
“In the past, we’ve done a lot of enrolling of students throughout the year; very transient families,” Downs said. “We have 65 percent (of enrollment that receives) free and reduced lunch, which is a poverty indicator. We’ve always had a tremendous amount of low income, transient families enrolling with us, leaving and going to a neighboring county (and repeating the cycle).
“We’re not seeing that enrollment at all. My suspicions are, that while we have a lot of real estate moving around here, it’s either people who are retired coming for the 65 and older (school tax) exemption or people who do not have kids and are escaping the city.”
Not replacing students comes with financial implications. Though at this point, there is no savings to be had in regard to staff.
“Our current estimate of losing 160 students would be about a $300,090 hit to our FTE that we get from the state,” Downs said. “The problem is, missing 160 students out of 13 grades, you’re talking about maybe 12 students per grade level. With three elementary schools, that may be four students per grade level per school. You really can’t reduce your teaching force because that is not enough to eliminate a whole class without driving the numbers up in another.
“Until it’s an even bigger hit, we won’t see the savings in personnel. We’re still running the same number of classes because it is not significant enough.”
After conferring with superintendents from surrounding districts with similar demographics and economies, Downs said they are all experiencing something similar to what is taking place in Gilmer.
“If this continues, we’ll lose funding,” Downs said. “Anytime you’re hurt financially then you have to start looking at your programming and your staffing.”
The school system will hold a public meeting in the coming months to set the budget for the new fiscal year.
“Right now, we’re saying this is a pandemic, we weren’t expecting this, and we’re going to keep on our course for right now and see what happens next year if and when things become more stabilized.”