West Bloomfield Schools Accept 22 Percent Fewer Choice Students

As the student population of the drops, the Board of Education responded by cutting back on the maximum number of students allowed in the Schools of Choice lottery.

The lottery for the 2012-13 school year took place Wednesday and 175 students out of about 225 applications were selected.

The district enrolled 226 students in grades K-3 through the Schools of Choice program in 2011-12 and the board voted unanimously to cut back to 175 in grades K-2 for 2012-13, a decrease of 22.5 percent, at Monday's meeting at . Students currently enrolled through the program are unaffected.

The move is being made at least in part as a result of a study done by the district's finance committee, an ad hoc  (SEAF) and a demographics company hired by the district that demonstrates that nonresident students stay with the district at a reduced rate when compared with residents.

"We should find out how to keep (Choice students) through graduation because it doesn’t help having our elementary schools filled with the majority of Choice and then once we get to middle school and high school, we can't rely on those same numbers," said Stacy Brickman, a district parent and volunteer on SEAF.

Arnett said that cutting back on Schools of Choice students is not necessarily indicative of any additional recommendation by SEAF, such as the closure or consolidation of buildings, but preschool classes are not being advertised  at the district's  building next fall in anticipation that the building could be sold or mothballed. 

"In the past, for the most part, any student who has applied for this district through the Schools of Choice program – whether it be at the day of the lottery or the first day of the school year – generally has gotten into the school they want at the grade they want," Arnett said.

That may change. Arnett explained that Schools of Choice students may be able to go another building if they are selected in the lottery but their first choice of school is filled by other nonresident students.

Twenty-seven percent of the district's total student population is comprised of Choice students, but the move Monday was made with a recommendation to reduce that to less than 20 percent by 2017-18. 

The total number of students is critical is determining the amount of funding each district is given by state government; West Bloomfield receives $8,646 per student, Choice or otherwise. 

"We'd like to make sure that the reliance on outside money coming in is consistent with having a slope instead of big drops in your budget, and we’re hoping to give you advice on a steady trend down," Brickman said.