Student count effects unclear

The Franklin school district could lose up to $250,000 in state funding after a count of students this month showed enrollment has dropped since the start of the year.

The decrease is typical for the school district. But this is the first time in three years Indiana has required school districts to submit multiple enrollment counts during the school year.

No one is sure how those numbers will be used. The state could keep the numbers on file for informational purposes, as they’ve done with the numbers before. Or state lawmakers could decide to use February’s count to determine how much money schools receive for the last half of 2013.

The enrollments at local schools in the Feb. 15 count varied. Center Grove’s enrollment is about the same as it was at the start of the year. Clark-Pleasant’s has risen slightly. Franklin’s is down about 50 students, which is usual for this time of year.

If those numbers are used to determine how much funding schools will get, the amount of money Center Grove receives from the state would be unchanged, and Clark-Pleasant would receive a bit more. But Franklin potentially could receive $250,000 less than it was expecting.

This story appears in the print edition of Daily Journal. Subscribers can read the entire story online by signing in here or in our e-Edition by clicking here.