Student count is once again increasing in the Oxford school district.
The district supplied the numbers after the Oxford Leader submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request last week.
According to the unofficial numbers, which were taken Oct. 1, the district is up approximately up 124.78 full time equivalent students (FTE) since February and up 40.83 FTE’s from a year ago.
Superintendent Dr. William Skilling believes one of the factors for the increase is that Oxford Virtual Academy has ‘recovered from severing ties with one home school group.? OVA has an estimated FTE of 503.10 students compared to 449.97 in the February and 494.04 in October 2013.
‘When we severed ties with that group we lost about 370 students; however, we gained back about 320 students, but not enough to make up the difference,? explained Skilling. ‘We didn’t have any sort of disruption like that this year. OVA has stabilized and returned to a growth pattern.?
Other major growth factors included the district taking over Crossroads for Youth this year, which added an extra 50 students and Oxford Early College has 95 FTE’s which is an increase of about 30 students from last year’s numbers.
‘Early College is going to continue to pick up probably, because that’s the best deal in town,? Skilling said. ‘They attend school a year longer, but they get a high school diploma and a two-year college degree when they graduate with no expense (to) the student or their parents. I think that’s going to continue to grow in popularity.?
Skilling noted that they budgeted an increase of about 30 students.
‘Our hope was to be more than 30,? he said. ‘But, we wanted to be conservative with (the budget.)?
In years past, Skilling said they had large growth because the economy was poor and people were moving. He also attributed the growth in the past due to other schools cutting programming during the recession, while Oxford added programs. The cutting of programs from other districts, he said attracted a lot of schools of choice students.
Speaking of Schools of Choice, he noted that they are looking at ‘tapering down? the program next year.
‘What I mean by that is (there’s) going to a more limited approach,? Skilling said. ‘Like, we may, for example, restrict the number of kids at a certain level.?
The tapering down is ‘two-fold.?
‘One is we’re anticipating more growth of people moving into Oxford. We’ve had a lot of families and new students this year due to them moving into the community. However, to contrast that, we still have a lot of moving with families leaving Oxford, but when they’re leaving, they’re going out of state for work. Michigan still hasn’t quite recovered from the recession,? Skilling added. ‘If the economy continues to inch forward in a positive way and with the home starts we’re essentially looking at in the future, that’s the reason to reevaluate that.?
The official numbers will be certified by the state in November.
‘It has been our experience over the last several years that the ‘unofficial? count is significantly higher than the ‘certified? count,? said the district’s Communications Coordinator Angela Thick.

Oxford’s Oct. 1 Student Count
School Fall 13 Winter 14 Fall 14
Early Childhood (special ED) 13.03 14 19.59
Clear Lake 546.06 546.061 556.06
Daniel Axford 468 471 415
Lakeville 408 395 400
Leonard 245 244 264
OES 450 449 456
OMS 1130.46 1123.16 1132
OHS 1517.73 1495 1524
Bridges 48.98 52.48 55
OVA 494.04 449.97 503.10
OEC 61 59 95
Crossroads – – 50
St. Joseph shared time 47.33 47 41.62
Total 5429.63 5345.67 5470.45
* Count is based on Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) students