Officials cite lower than expected MCPS student enrollment
The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors (MCBS) on Dec. 2 learned that the Middlesex County Public Schools system (MCPS) will be losing a projected $163,685 in state education funds because of a lower MCPS enrollment than anticipated.
School Superintendent Dr. Tracy Seitz reported to the board that “we are anticipating lower state revenues to come to us in our bi-monthly deposits based on the actual funded student enrollment compared to the 1,170 funded student enrollment used for budgeting purposes.
“We are using a figure of 1,130 (student enrollment) in this new calculation to plan for state revenues the remainder of the year,” said Dr. Seitz.
State education funding to MCPS is based, in part, on average daily membership (ADM). Each year school officials estimate the ADM during budget planning to provide an estimate in determining the amount of state school funding that will come in for the year. “It is not always easy to predict our number of students,” said Dr. Seitz.
ADM changes directly impact the following revenue categories: basic school aid, gifted education Standards of Quality (SOQ), compensation supplement, special education SOQ, vocation education SOQ, instructional social security, teacher retirement, instructional group life, at-risk students, and textbook funds.
Instead of requesting funding from the MCBS, Dr. Seitz reported that the funding shortfall will be handled by not filling a “few unfilled positions,” including a general education teacher, a special education teacher and a media specialist/reading interventionist. The cost of the unfilled positions were figured in the budget.
“Creative staffing has allowed us to balance the revenue deficit since we will not have offsetting expenses in those instructional position lines that were not filled,” said Dr. Seitz.
