Fewer students attending MH schools

When the school year starts in less than two weeks, Morgan Hill
will see fewer students. In fact, enrollment is down to 2007-08
levels of less than 9,500, according to a report from the
California Department of Education.
When the school year starts in less than two weeks, Morgan Hill will see fewer students. In fact, enrollment is down to 2007-08 levels of less than 9,500, according to a report from the California Department of Education.

About 177 students transferred to another district in Santa Clara County for the 2011-2012 school year, according to a report compiled by the Morgan Hill Unified School District. Eighty-eight students transferred from other districts to Morgan Hill. Last year, 9,532 students were enrolled in Morgan Hill, compared to 9,704 when enrollment peaked in 2008-09.

Each student brings in about $33 every day, so the district could lose about $100,000 if enrollment figures stand.

The total number of students moving in and out of the district won’t be available until October, and district officials said the numbers are fluid and constantly changing.

Two schools, P.A. Walsh Elementary and Jackson Elementary are now in their fifth year of Program Improvement, two of 1,000 low performing schools in the state along with El Toro Elementary and San Martin/Gwinn Elementary. The California Department of Education will notify districts once again later this month about which schools will be on this year’s low performing list.

Letters were sent home to parents from the state to inform them of their children’s enrollment options, which include inter-district transfers and open enrollment. Inter-district transfers are for students living inside the MHUSD area that would like to attend a school out of the district while open enrollment gives students the option to transfer to another school in or out of the district with higher Academic Performance Indexes. Jackson’s current score is 768, Walsh Elementary’s is 742. If a school can show successful improvement of 10 percent or more in scores over two consecutive years and its subgroups test ‘proficient,’ it can move out of PI.

Yet with the list of 1,000 low-performing schools, Superintendent Wes Smith said the list is a work of fiction.

“(The California Department of Education) calls them low-performing schools, not the lowest performing. When I say it’s fiction, it really doesn’t say anything about our schools. It’s a way for politicians to make themselves feel good,” Smith said.

Jackson underwent an upheaval last year due to its fifth year in Program Improvement – test scores showed students identified as “English language learners” were not “proficient” in California standardized testing levels. Jackson brought in an alternative governance program that included Ray Jimenez as interim principal, Ernie Zermeno as lead consultant and Honey Berg as additional support and hired new principal Elvia Teixeira to take over this fall after former principal Garry Dudley quit last year. Jackson’s API score of 768 is “close to 800” and Smith said he thinks it’s doing a great job.

Smith said the Program Improvement list plays a role in affecting parents’ decisions to take their children out of the schools, along with other factors including changes in administration.

“In California in general, I see a decline in enrollment. People are leaving the state and going to more affordable states where their government officials care more about their children,” he said.

Outgoing students to other states in 2010-2011 totaled 94 according to the report, five from Jackson and 13 from Walsh elementary schools.

A loss of students translates into a loss of funds from the state for the district, since the state funds schools is based on “annual daily attendance.” Bob Benevento of the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Education said in order to stop hemorrhaging state funding, kids need to be in school.

“With regards to funding and enrollment, perhaps the single most important thing that we can do as a community and as parents is make sure our children come to school every day. If a child misses a day of school, we do not receive our state funding that day for that student,” Benevento said.

Kathleen Sullivan, vice president of the board of education, is also concerned with the decline in enrollment.

“I think it will come as no surprise that continued decrease in enrollment can have a detrimental effect on the financial health of the district as a whole,” she said. “The money follows the kids – less kids, less money.”

She said parents taking their children out of their neighborhood schools is not going to help the students themselves.

“Since we have worked hard to have the same standards and curriculum at all the schools, I do not see how leaving their designated schools will help students,” she said. “In the end, some parents choose to leave because they feel they cannot take a chance on their children’s education, but also it is often a more emotional than reasoned choice.”

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