School District 73 expects modest decline in enrolment
The decrease in student-enrolment numbers in the Kamloops-Thompson school district doesn’t appear as though it will be as high as the board had projected.
That’s the word from School District No. 73 superintendent Terry Sullivan, with less than three weeks until student numbers are sent to Victoria for funding.
“We projected in our annual operating budget, which was approved in May, a decline of about 206 students,” Sullivan said.
“Based on what we see happening in the elementary schools, we think we’re going to do better than that.”
What Sullivan sees happening in elementary schools is the same thing that occurred last fall — higher enrolment figures than anticipated.
Last September, the district anticipated a decline of 306 students overall. But, an influx of new learners — about 250 of them — meant the overall decline was only about 50 students.
Last year, most of the new students were at the elementary level.
Sullivan thinks the same thing is happening again.
“We seem to be doing better,” he said.
“We’re still down, but we’re down less than we anticipated we’d be down.”
Sullivan said he has seen preliminary figures for SD73 elementary schools, but has yet to see numbers for local high schools.
Regardless, the preliminary numbers mean nothing.
The enrolment figures at the end of the month will be what Victoria uses to decide how much money SD73 receives.
“We have numbers, but the only numbers that matter to us are Sept. 30,” Sullivan said.
“What happens on Sept. 29 or Oct. 1 is irrelevant to us.”
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