(Elk Horn) A decrease in enrollment was discussed by the Exira-EHK School Board at their meeting on Monday.
Superintendent Trevor Miller relays the numbers for the district. “Our certified number is 401.2 which means we are down 15.7 from last year. Our largest class graduated and our incoming kindergarten was less so I had estimated us being down 13 students when I did the forecast for the future budgets.”
Miller says home schooling and the use of virtual academies during the pandemic have contributed to the dip. “We’ll hopefully get them back next year. We ended up with butts in the seats of 347.4 which is down 23.1 from last year so that’s kind of concerning. With COVID people are all over the place. Some of them are doing home school or a virtual academy. If you’re looking at enrollment in rural Iowa I think it’s down quite a bit just due to the uncertainty of the school year.”
Elsewhere the board has approved a Chain of Command Document. “It’s a flow chart of understanding how if I have a problem who do I talk to instead of just guessing. We’ve always talked about it, but we never had a document in place. It’s a resource on our website and sent out to our parents as well. Everybody will have a copy and that way it can help them out and make sure any concerns are taken care of.”
The District’s Certified Annual Report showed a general fund increase of $44,332, the LOST/SAVE account increased by $65,576, and the PPEL increased by $122,000 which will be going down once the new air conditioning units are installed at the main gym in Elk Horn. The work on the gym is taking place this week.
