The 2011-2012 school year is underway for the Flagstaff Unified School District, with one major change--fewer students are attending FUSD schools. By the 10th day of this school year, more than 500 FUSD students were dropped from enrollment, which is far lower than the enrollment at FUSD schools at this time last year.
On the 10th day of the previous school year, there were 10,184 students enrolled in FUSD, but as of August 31, there were only 9,646 students enrolled in FUSD. That’s a 5 percent drop in enrollment. Why the sudden drop of students? Of the dropped students, about 300 of those students are now enrolled at the new Basic charter school located on McMillan Mesa.
This drop in enrollment comes as no surprise to FUSD superintendent Barbara Hickman, who says the drop in enrollment was expected, and the school district had already planned and staffed for the student decrease.
This isn’t the first year student enrollment for FUSD has decreased. Over the past 2 years, it’s estimated the school district has lost 999 students, nearly 9 percent since the 2009-2010 school year.
FUSD says, the students who have left the district and aren’t attending the new charter school have either moved to another town, began attending online classes or are attending a non-FUSD program. Only a small portion of the students who left the school district maintain an “unknown” status, which may be due to the students switching to home schooling or starting a new school in an area where the 2011-2012 school year hasn’t began.
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