Oxford Schools have once again seen student count numbers rise following the Oct. 7 Student Count Day.
Based on the unofficial numbers, the district is up approximately 185.18 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) students from last fall, bringing the total up to 5,694.47.
Oxford receives $7,391 in state funding for each student.
Superintendent Tim Throne said the increase ‘give(s) credence? to all good work being done by Oxford staff.
‘People are actively choosing Oxford,? Throne told the school board at the Oct. 14 meeting. ‘I can’t tell you how many articles in the last three days I’ve read about districts laying off teachers . . . because their student count is down and we’re running around figuring out where we’re going to make our investments to improve student achievement. That’s huge.?
Oxford saw a total of approximately 275 FTE growth at the secondary level between Oxford Middle School (up 50), Oxford High School (up 60), Oxford Schools Early College (OSEC), (up 35 FTE) and the Oxford Virtual Academy (OVA), which was up by 130.
‘OVA hit it out of the ballpark,? Throne said. ‘I couldn’t be more proud of (OVA Director) Drew Hulbert and our virtual team. Their numbers are outstanding. I am not only elated for them, but I am elated for the district. It’s just tremendous.?
He noted the growth also says a lot about not only Hulbert and his team, but also the job being done by school district’s marketing director, Matt Johnson.
‘I think a lot of people were questioning not only our investment in OVA, but our marketing efforts (for that program),? he added. ‘We changed the way we market and it paid off in a big way.?
The Bridges program also saw a growth of nearly eight students, while St. Joseph shared-time also had an increase of approximately five students.
On the negative side, Oxford saw a loss of approximately 100 FTE students, at the elementary level, which exception of Leonard, which increased by four. Clear Lake was down 37, Daniel Axford was down 24, Lakeville was down 39 and Oxford Elementary was down three from last fall. Crossroads was also down approximately five students.
Asked if he was concerned about this negative growth at the elementary level, Throne responded, ‘Absolutely.?
‘Because it’s those classes that will be coming up,? he said. ‘I guess the note from a long-term strategic financial perspective is that the investments we make, we’ll have to make sure that we are doing them very carefully and strategically. It only takes one or two changes in state law, in school-of-choice laws or regulations around a virtual program and we could be losing hundreds of kids.?
While the district experienced good growth at both the middle school and the high school this year, Throne pointed out, even with schools of choice open, if they didn’t have their 97 international students this year, they would have seen negative growth at the high school.
‘While we had good growth at the middle school with 50 kids, some of that was the eighth grade that left, which is now ninth grade and was replaced by our sixth grade. Our two largest classes in the district are sixth and eighth grade,? he said. ‘Even with schools of choice at the middle school, if you take out one of those large class sizes, we’re at level growth.?
Throne explained they are focusing marketing efforts on the Oxford Early Learning Center in hopes of feeding the elementary schools? growth.
‘Myself or our team, or our district vision, is not to grow this district to a huge size. It’s to have steady, controllable annual growth over time and that’s what we’re hoping to do,? he said. ‘We’re not looking to build more schools and do all these other things tomorrow. Eventually, will we have to? Yes. But that’s years down the road, especially when you have elementary numbers that are going down. And that’s not just in Oxford, but happening everywhere.?
‘Again, on the positive side, with the labor market rebounding and getting much better, our housing market, much, much better, we’re starting to see those families come back that maybe had moved out of state,? he added. ‘We’re always happy about that.?