|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The SRVUSD Board of Education held a regular meeting on Tuesday, covering topics that ranged from enrollment projections to the district’s coronavirus response.
The San Ramon Valley Unified School District is currently projecting a significant decline in student enrollment over the next several years, with district officials saying these figures largely match enrollment trends currently being seen in schools throughout California.
According to the demographers’ projections shown during the Board of Education’s regular meeting on Tuesday, enrollment figures are projected to decline between 595 and 771 students every year over the next seven years and while some of the decline is attributed to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, much is a result of statewide trends prevalent in the majority of California school districts.
“We know that the SRVUSD is a destination district, absolutely a destination district,” SRVUSD chief business officer Greg Medici said during the meeting. “We are going to continue to market ourselves and maintain that strong reputation that we have; that said, we are not sure if all of our efforts can outpace and out-trend all of California and the Bay Area’s issues.”
Declining enrollment would present potentially significant financial challenges to the district’s budget, which according to SRVUSD staff is based in part by the district’s average daily attendance rates.
District officials did note that the coronavirus pandemic has aggravated an already worsening enrollment situation, but remained optimistic that trends may rebound somewhat once the county and state are able to increase control over the spread of the virus.
Assuming that enrollment trends rebound after the pandemic subsides, district officials anticipate that it will see an average decline in student enrollment of 595 students every year through at least the 2027-28 school year.
If current enrollment trends do not rebound, then enrollment is projected to decline by an average of 771 students every year through the 2027-28 school year. For perspective, the district’s current student population rests at 30,609 students. If these trends continue then by 2027, its population would drop to 25,213 — a decrease of nearly 5,400 students.
During the district’s 2019-20 enrollment report, district officials anticipated an annual decline of 609 students per year.
“This is the fourth year in a row that the data-driven study itself has shown the declining trend is very real,” Medici said. “If we try to own that COVID did drive a lot of our (declining enrollment) then we’re very close to the trending line from last year.”
A statewide phenomenon that is affecting approximately 80% of school districts throughout the state of California, according to Medici, primary factors resulting in the decrease include declining birth rates, mobility of residents leaving the district and decreasing affordability of the area combined with the fact that the district’s housing growth bubble is largely over.
“Historically the SRVUSD, because of the great school district that we are and the great community that we are, has had off the charts mobility rates — that’s net people moving in over moving out — but the combination of other factors… are really driving mobility down from historic levels,” Medici said.
During Tuesday’s meeting district officials also took the time to discuss plans to reopen schools for in-person learning.
While criteria for reopening is largely dictated by state and county health officials, district staff say they are working to return students to in-person learning as soon as it is safe to do so.
“This continues to be an important, significant and challenging time for all of us,” Superintendent John Malloy said. “For some, I know that they’ve communicated that remote continues to be effective and they’re grateful and they want us to be sure that we don’t lose our focus there. We won’t. And I said at the beginning at this presentation that we also can’t lose focus for those students who need to be back (in-person).”
Residents can learn more about enrollment and the district’s path to re-opening schools by watching the board’s full meeting, which is available on the SRVUSD’s officials YouTube channel.
Enrollment will decline based on the power of teacher unions and how Govt allows them to continue to impact our kids negatively. COVID has made this very clear. Public schools are now not desirable. They teach a liberal view. They can’t be trusted. There is no accountability. These teachers do not care about our kids. They care about themselves. This pandemic, and how the schools are avoiding science, in paving what they should do the balance of this year for our kids – is pathetic. Private schools are the way to go.
The article says that the district (SRVUSD) will open schools as soon as it is safe to do so. It is ALREADY safe to do so – in fact, it has been safe to re-open schools for months. Public school districts in other states have been re-opened for months, with only minor issues of COVID cases. Same is true for some of the more rural counties in CA, as well as private schools all over the state. And it has been clear for months that the harm to students from being kept locked out of school has been far greater than the low risk of COVID cases. The SRVUSD needs to re-open schools now. And if the teachers’ union balks, designate their lack of attendance as being a strike action. The striking teachers can then be fired, and replaced. (At the same time, offer all teachers their job back, immediately, as a non-union teacher.) The teachers’ union does NOT have your kids best interests at heart.