EDUCATION

Muncie Schools enrollment drops to 5,183

Seth Slabaugh
The Star Press
Students and parents leave Mitchell Elementary School on Wednesday, the last day of classes in 2017. The school was one of three in Muncie closed after the 2016-17 school year because of declining enrollment.

MUNCIE, Ind. — Enrollment at Muncie Community Schools has dropped to 5,183, according to the fall count taken on Sept. 15.

That is a decline of 507 students or nearly 9 percent from the count of 5,690 students a year ago.

And it brings with it a decrease in state funding for the deficit-ridden school district, which receives $6,975 in state tuition support for each student enrolled.

MCS declined comment to The Star Press other than to say the fall count is still not official. District spokeswoman Anny Pichardo also said a breakdown of enrollment at each school building was not available yet.

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Indiana Department of Education (DOE) spokesman Adam Baker said there is a "cleanup phase" after schools submit their fall counts, and official numbers won't be available until Oct. 15.

Another statewide count will be taken on Feb. 1, but that is used for informational purposes only and will not be used to calculate state tuition support for the 2017-18 school year.

Here is a breakdown of enrollment at MCS for the past six years:

  • 2012-13: 6,784
  • 2013-14: 6,568
  • 2013-15: 6,106
  • 2015-16: 5,883
  • 2016-17: 5,690
  • 2017-18: 5,183 (Not official yet)

Of the 5,690 students enrolled at MCS last fall, 4,454 or 78.3 percent were general education students and 1,236 or 21.7 percent were special education students, who come from Muncie and surrounding schools.

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At the Sept. 12 school board meeting, MCS chief financial officer Bob Coddington reported that DOE estimated the district's state tuition support for the 2018 budget to be $41.7 million, based on 5,339 students. A week earlier, unofficial enrollment was only 5,159, which would represent $1.2 million less in state funding.

MCS'S 2018 general fund expenditures were budgeted at $46.7 million.

The school system's enrollment has been declining for 50 years after peaking in 1967, according to a study published by Ball State University's Center for Business and Economic Research in March. "These dynamics mimicked the Muncie population in general, and demographic forecasts confirmed these trends repeated from the mid-1970’s onward."

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Enrollment at MCS has declined by 26.1 percent since the 2005-6 school
year, the study found. Roughly half of this decline (13.8 percent) represents MCS students choosing to attend other local public schools. 

The study also reported that continued financial problems at MCS are not a revenue issue.

"On a per-student basis, MCS is one of the most highly funded school corporations in Indiana, and by far the highest in East Central Indiana," the study said. "Rather, the issue is one of failing to align facilities and staff costs to match the observed 50-year trend. In the decade ending with the last school year (2015-16), MCS lost 26.1 percent of its student enrollment, while the decline in employed teachers was 7.1 percent.

"Today, MCS maintains physical plant which can accommodate more than 40 percent higher enrollment. Thus, operational costs are between 15-25 percent higher than warranted and physical plant is roughly 40 percent higher than warranted in the 2016-17 school year. Every forecast of enrollment suggests a continuing decline through at least 2030."

Since the Ball State study was published, MCS closed Mitchell, Storer and Sutton elementary schools.It has closed numerous other schools over the years as enrollment continued to shrink.

Seth Slabaugh is a reporter at The Star Press who can be reached (765) 213-5834 or seths@muncie.gannett.com.