As I walk the halls of Fayette I am noticing a troubling trend of fewer students walking our halls every year. This is just not a problem at Fayette but a problem that is being faced by a majority of smaller districts in the area. Since 2003, Fayette has seen a loss of 88 students and Fulton County has seen a decrease of 720 students. In the four county region, we have seen a decrease of 1804 students who no longer are walking the halls at their local schools. Many people can speculate the reasons for the reductions of students in our schools to economic shifts, employment changes, school choice, smaller families, etc. but my feeling is it’s a combination of all of the above.
With these trends comes the financial impact on local districts as a result of decreased enrollment. At Fayette, we receive funding from 1) Local Property taxes 2) School Income tax. 3) State Foundation Payments. Your Property tax and Income tax have no bearing on the number of students within our district. The same amount would be collected whether we had 10 or 1000 students at Fayette. The State Foundation Payments we receive are directly influenced by the number of students we have enrolled. Currently Fayette receives $5,732 per student or (ADM). That would be if we have 440 students at Fayette we would receive $2,522,080 annually in state foundation payments. Since Fayette has seen a decrease of 88 students over the last 10 years that would equate to a loss of $504,416 annually that Fayette would not receive. This in terms of millage would be roughly 12.5 mills that we have lost.
When monies are decreased at this level, decisions must be made to accommodate those decreases. The trend in education is to go to your local taxpayers and ask them for additional funds. I cannot imagine asking for those kinds of funds when we are already over taxed as it is. The other option and responsible action is to decrease the spending and that amount, the only way to do that is through personnel when salaries and benefits account for more than 80% of our expenditures. This is always the tough thing to do as this affects real people. If a decision to not employ an individual at $60,000 in salary and benefits would be left go for 3 years, which would be $180,000 that the district would be behind. We would then need to eliminate that position plus 2 more just to make up that amount. The double edged sword with this is that when you eliminate positions you eliminate choices and opportunities for students.
At Fayette we do not have a spending problem; we have a decreasing student problem. The board of education has identified this as the single biggest threat to the district in the upcoming years. In order to address this we also need to understand that this problem is also facing the town of Fayette and our local townships. We need to support and foster job creation in the Fayette community for long term solvency. In the short term to address student enrollment issues, we have been offsetting general funds through applying for grants, increasing open enrollment options through virtual education, and promoting the positives that we see every day while walking the halls. The board of education is tasked with a monumental job of keeping the doors open at Fayette to provide the same kind of nurturing environment that small town schools have accustomed to having. These decisions must be based on facts, and not based on emotion. As I walk the halls and I see the magical interactions going on in our classrooms on a daily basis, it is imperative that we address the issues that we face head on to provide a better education for tomorrow.
Proud To Be An Eagle
Erik Belcher, Superintendent
Fayette Local School