Little Enrollment Hike Expected

Spokane Valley schools expect little change in enrollments for next year.

Central Valley School District officials say they’ll have an average of 10,300 students enrolled next year. This year’s average enrollment was 10,340.

East Valley expects 4,673 fulltime equivalent students next year. The average enrollment this year was 4,682. West Valley’s numbers are level, as well. The district has averaged about 3,455 this year and expects 3,450 next year.

Generally, the districts try to err on the low side with these estimates. Each student brings nearly $4,000 a year in state revenue. If they overestimate their enrollments, they’ll be short of money.

“Remember that we always try to be on the conservative side,” said Jan Hutton, director of business services for the Central Valley School District.

Long-term growth projected in the east end of the Central Valley district is still coming, officials say. It’s just hard to know exactly when.

Once the officials have the enrollment predictions in hand, they need to answer staffing questions. How many teachers and other staff will be needed next year?

Lots of factors are involved. Officials look at more detailed predictions of enrollment numbers and identify where the bulges of students will be.

For instance, is one school’s fifth-grade much larger than the other grade levels? That’s been true at East Farms Elementary School in the East Valley School District. That bulge will now move on to Mountain View Middle School, where an extra sixth-grade teacher may be needed.

Once this picture is clear, officials start matching up how many teachers they need for each grade and each subject at each school.

At a budget work session on Thursday, East Valley personnel director Daryl Isotalo told school board members that he thinks of the enrollment projections as building blocks out of which he and others build a puzzle.

Complicating his puzzle are several factors. How many teachers will retire or resign? Do some want to cut back next year and work out job sharing? Have others asked for transfers to another building?

In addition to staffing, schools must plan for costs ranging from insurance and heat bills, to vocational-technical programs or special education.

School districts must make their budgets available to the public by July 10.