Student Count Strains Dayton Budget

DAYTON -- The Dayton School Board is looking at next school year's budget trying to figure out whether to offer full-day kindergarten or employ a second fourth grade teacher to keep up with projected enrollment for that grade.

This decision is a tough one and Superintendent Doug Johnson said he wants to hear from staff members, parents and community members to help the school board decide what is more important.

Johnson said he has concerns about fall enrollment and the budget that will accompany it. The current full-time equivalent enrollment for Dayton schools is 444 and that number is expected to drop from 437 and 433 students in the fall. This decrease will also bring a drop in state funding, falling between $2,522,000 and $2,543,000 for the 2012-2013 school year, Johnson said.

Despite the projected reduction in overall enrollment for the district, the fourth grade class is posing potential issues, Johnson said. The concerns lie in the large number of students enrolled in the third grade who will advance as a fourth grade class because it may be too large for one instructor. The class is currently at 32 students, which Johnson said is troubling.

"Any last-minute enrolled students would cause problems," Johnson said.

He added that additional students in the class with just one teacher would make it harder for students to obtain individual learning time with staff members.

An additional instructor is in the budget, but this would prevent the district from fully funding an allday kindergarten for the school year, Johnson said.

The all-day kindergarten option, which has been discussed at previous meetings, has been shown to be beneficial to students longterm, Johnson said.

But by adding an allday kindergarten class, the fourth graders may experience setbacks because of the lack of a second instructor.

One option Johnson suggested would be to hire a second fourth grade instructor and wait to start the all-day kindergarten program later in the school year when the students are more prepared to stay in classes all day.

Another option would be to focus the budget on all-day kindergarten and split the fourth graders among the third and fifth grade classes for some subjects like reading or math to help and challenge the students, he said.

Dayton Elementary School second grade teacher Dawn McGhan said that until teaching positions are set for the school year the staff doesn't have any idea what will happen regarding the extra fourth grade teacher.

Dayton Elementary principal Katie Leid said there are still options available to work the situation out.

"We need to have a plan," Johnson said.

Johnson said he hopes to have more information at the school board meeting on June 6.