By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — USD 308's enrollment numbers taken on Monday are not quite what were estimated, according to USD 308 Superintendent Mike Folks.
"We're not going to be up in enrollment," Folks said. "We're just going to be slightly down overall prek-12. Last year, we had 4,068 and the numbers came in at 4,035. That's a 33-student drop."
Folks hasn't had much time to drill down into the numbers, but he notes that the virtual school has done well.
"Our virtual school in its first year has 137," Folks said. "Hutchinson High School is down 101 from last year, but of the 137 enrolled in the virtual school, 86 of those are Hutch High or high school age students."
Folks did say there will be some budget impact from lower enrollment, but it's less than was feared earlier on.
"The good news in all of this, the trend had been between a two and a three percent decline in enrollment every year, somewhere between 90 and 120 students. This year, the decline is much less."
The next meeting of the Hutchinson Unified Superintendent Advisory Council is September 29.