MESA, Ariz. — It's a problem many Arizona schools are facing.
Fewer students attending Mesa Public Schools this year led to the district losing out on $3 million in its budget.
Dr. Matthew Strom, the assistant superintendent of strategy and organizational effectiveness, said on Tuesday that for the current school year, MPS is down about 1,700 students, nearly double what they were anticipating.
"We built into the budget, a decline of about 900 students," Dr. Strom said.
While $3 million dollars is a lot of money, Strom said it won't have any major impacts given that the operating budget for MPS is about $531 million.
"We're able to take contingency funds that have been built up over prior years and plan out the remainder of this year appropriately so that we're we're not in financial strife," Strom said.
Declining student enrollment has been an issue year after year. Strom said between 2005 and 2010, MPS had about 70,000 students. That has now dropped to about 57,000.
There are a few reasons why fewer students are enrolling, according to Strom. The biggest reason being fewer people in Mesa are having kids because of the high cost of living. The other is parents choosing to send their kids to charter or private schools.
"We're in a choice market in Arizona and we have to compete for kids," he said.
This is not an issue unique to Mesa. In Paradise Valley, there are discussions about closing down four schools because of the same issue.
As for how long enrollment will continue to decline, Strom estimates it could continue for the next ten years.
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