The Average Daily Membership, or ADM counts, were conducted throughout the state for all school corporations last Friday. Schools rely on this count as corporations receive funding for every student counted on that day.
Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said that his corporation is down approximately 30 students. That amounts to a loss of $150,000 in funding for the school. Dr. Klitzman said this year’s count was 1,190.
Dr. Klitzman expressed that he feels this method of funding is flawed.
“Thirty students, if you spread them out, there’s not a single thing that I can do differently to cut expenditures. I can’t change teacher contracts – it’s a flawed system in terms of how you fund per student because you can’t do things per student. When you fund this way, I think it’s ill-conceived and it doesn’t serve public education very well,” said Klitzman.
West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon stated that he and the staff are still working on the ADM count as there are some conflicts. Overall, he said, the count will be the same as last year. Funding may take a big hit next year as there aren’t as many Kindergarten students this year as there were last year so that could equate to a loss of 20 students. He said they’ll wait and see how the enrollment will shake out, but that is the prediction so far.
Approximately $5,000 comes into the corporation per student at a public school.
