Open enrollment will cost Colfax school district $255,000
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The difference between students open enrolling out and students open enrolling into the Colfax school district will cost the district an estimated $254,707 for the 2022-2023 school year.
There are 107 students open enrolling out of Colfax and 73 open enrolling into Colfax, said William C Yingst Jr., district administrator, at the Colfax Board of Education’s October 24 meeting.
For students from the Colfax school district, Colfax receives one-third of the state aid, and the receiving district receives two-thirds of the state aid, he said.
According to information in the school board packet, Colfax will receive $625,037 for students open enrolling into the school district, and students open enrolling out will cost the school district $879,744.
Colfax has 26 students transferring out to Elk Mound and 16 students transferring in from Elk Mound, while the Bloomer school district is even with 15 students transferring in and 15 transferring out.
Colfax has 18 students transferring out to Menomonie and 11 students transferring in from Menomonie.
Colfax has 14 students transferring out to Prairie Farm and no students transferring in from Prairie Farm.
For the Boyceville school district, 11 students are transferring out and 19 are transferring in, and for Eau Claire and Barron, there are four students transferring out and zero students transferring in.
Three students are transferring out to New Auburn, and two students are transferring in, and for the Chippewa Falls school district, five students are transferring out and nine are transferring in.
For the McFarland, Medford, St. Croix Falls, Chetek-Weyerhauser, Grantsburg and Cadott school districts, there are seven Colfax students transferring out and one transferring in from Chetek-Weyerhauser.
The students transferring to McFarland, Medford, St. Croix Falls, Chetek-Weyerhauser, Grantsburg and Cadott are attending virtual schools at those school districts, Yingst said.
Geography
Geography and jobs are a big factor in the reason why students transfer in or out of the Colfax school district, and although daycare is a factor as well, daycare is not the biggest issue, Yingst said.
The reasons why parents open enroll in or out of Colfax “is a mixture” of factors, he said.
The Colfax school district is 28 miles long from north to south and is 17 miles wide from east to west, which is a large geographic area for a school district, Yingst noted.
People who live near the borders of the school district and work in various places sometimes open enroll their students in or out of the school district because they can drop their students off at school or pick them on their way to and from work, Yingst said.
The Colfax school district contacted open enrollment parents several years ago to find out their reasons, and “geography and jobs are a big piece of it,” he said.
According to the information included in the school board packet, the highest open enrollments in and out of the district are associated with school districts to the north or south, east or west borders of the Colfax school district — Elk Mound, Bloomer, Menomonie, Prairie Farm and Boyceville.
Fewer students transfer in or out to Eau Claire, Barron, New Auburn or Chippewa Falls.
Some of the students who are transferring out of the Colfax school district have never attended school at Colfax, Yingst said.
Open enrollment can help a school district and open enrollment can hurt a school district, he said.
Open enrollment hurts Colfax, but geography plays a huge role, Yingst said.
Consistency
Ken Neuburg, school board member, asked if the open enrollment numbers were staying consistent from year to year.
Five or 10 years ago, the number of students transferring in and the number transferring out were closer together, but in the last few years, the numbers are remaining consistent, Yingst said.
Of the school districts in Wisconsin, 85 percent have declining enrollment, he said.
State aid is based on the number of students in the district.
If a school district loses 20 students, the school district will lose several hundred thousand dollars in state aid, but the school district still must employ the same number of teachers to teach the remaining students and still must spend the same amount on building maintenance, utilities, and for busing students and other expenses.
Colfax’s Full Time Equivalency (FTEs) for students is 741.4 this year, compared to 755 last year, Yingst said.
That’s 13.6 FTEs less than the Third Friday count last year, he said.
Summer school activities also count toward state aid, Yingst said.
One FTE equals 48,600 minutes in summer school activities, and Colfax had 22.98 FTEs for summer programming in June, July and August, such as summer school, Summer Saunters and swimming lessons, as well as the three days of orientation when students can meet their teachers and work on team-building activities, he said.
Summer programming is aided at 40 percent, so 22.98 times 40 percent is 9.19 FTEs for which Colfax will receive state aid, Yingst said.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Board of Education:
• Approved the applications for Start College Now, which includes six students who will be enrolled in college level classes at Chippewa Valley Technical College in the spring of 2023.
• Learned that two Colfax High School students completed the CVTC Nursing Assistant program this past summer and are now certified as Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs): Wendy Perez and Brodee Everson.
• Learned that Colfax has been approved to receive a grant in the amount of $68,000 from the Emergency Connectivity Fund (E-rate) to be used toward technology purchases.
• Learned that the Veterans Day program on November 11 at Colfax High School will begin at 10 a.m. The program will be in person and will be live-streamed through the school district’s website.
• Learned that Colfax Elementary received a grant to support support students in their reading. In “A Hauntingly Good Reading Program,” students in kindergarten through fourth grade will be participating, and classrooms with 100 percent participation will receive $50 for new books in their classroom libraries. One of the incentives was to “spruce up” their teacher for Halloween with make-up, hair color, hair gel and hair spray on October 31.
• Learned that the new playground equipment has been installed at Colfax Elementary. The “Playground Bonanza Intriguing Surprise” contest asked classrooms to predict when they believed the playground installation would happen. The classroom that picked the correct date of the playground installation will receive a PBIS Surprise party.
• Learned that the ACT exam for all juniors will be on March 7, 2023, and parents are asked to make sure their student is in school that day and to avoid appointments or vacation. The ACT exam is required for all juniors in the state of Wisconsin. The state test is free and is taken in school. ACT tests taken outside of March 7 do not count for state testing.
• Learned that the testing windows for 2022-2023 are March 20 to April 28 for Pre-ACT secure testing window for grades 9 and 10; December 1 to January 24 for ACCESS for all English Language Learner students; March 20 to April 28 for the Forward exam for grades 3 through 8 and grade 10.
• Learned that Caillier Clinic LTD and Randall Therapy are providing mental therapy in-house. All together 19 students are being served from elementary through high school. The agencies and therapists are independent of the Colfax school district and work directly with the family’s health insurance to provide services for students. The school district also is aware of 11 students who are receiving counseling services off campus, according to Polly Rudi’s report to the school board. Rudi is the special education and pupil services director for the school district.
• Learned that in the last two years, Amy Bowe, high school counselor, has written and received grant money to support mental health in the school district. Mayo Clinic has provided $5,000, and Dunn County has provided $3,000. The funds are being used for mileage reimbursement for off campus therapy, co-pay assistance and therapy supplies. A total of $2,900 remains for the 2022-2023 school year.
Following a closed session, the Colfax Board of Education:
• Approved hiring Ryan Krall and Matthew DeMoe as the middle school boys’ basketball coaches.
• Approved hiring Kari Sedivy and Kirk Secraw as the middle school girls’ basketball coaches.
• Approved hiring Mark Noll as the head high school boys’ basketball coach; Tristan Kittilson as the junior varsity coach; and Nicholas Heit as the freshmen coach.
• Approved hiring Courtney Sarauer as the head coach for girls’ high school basketball; Carly Kittilson as the junior varsity coach.
• Approved hiring David Blanchard as the middle school and high school wrestling coach.
• Approved hiring Vicki Seston as the high school dance coach.
• Approved hiring Michael Hodel as the conditioning coach for high school gymnastics; Kristi Nelson as the assistant coach.
The Colfax Board of Education meets next on November 14. ==