Mid-Prairie’s certified enrollment this year is at one of the highest numbers it’s ever been, and to account for those additional students, the school board approved an application to the state for additional allowable growth. Superintendent Mark Schneider presented the enrollment numbers at the most recent school board meeting. He said the current number of students served throughout the district is 1,767, which is the highest figure the school has ever had. Of that number, 360 students have open-enrolled into the district from 14 other school districts, which represents 20% of the total student population. The district lost 40 students who open-enrolled out of Mid-Prairie. Schneider said for every one student they lose, nine students come in.

The official certified enrollment for the district, which dictates the amount of government funding the school receives for next year, is 1,258.35, an increase of 47.5 students from last year. To accommodate the extra students served and the increased certified enrollment, the school is allowed to apply to the state to increase the spending authority. Schneider explains, “Even though we won’t get any tax money this year for those students, even though we won’t get any state aid this year for those students, the state will allow us to increase our allowable growth. And then if we have any extra expenses related to them, obviously we can use our cash reserve levy to fund that.” The school board unanimously approved the resolution to submit the application for the increased spending authority to the state.