The statewide plunge in K-12 district school enrollment has swamped Gov. Doug Duceyâs promise to limit the damage to school budgets.
As a result, the Payson school board on Tuesday approved a major budget shuffle to cover a loss of some $540,000. The districtâs 2,300 enrollment has dropped by a catastrophic 15% â roughly 345 students.
In addition, about 15% of the districtâs students have continued in distance learning classes, rather than returning to in-person classes.
Fortunately, the district hadnât counted on the state keeping its promise to cut enrollment-based funding by no more than 2%, no matter how many worried parents kept their kids out of school during the pandemic.