MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — Muskegon County public school enrollment dropped by 800 students this fall compared to 2009, a decline that school officials attributed to families leaving the area to find work, according to The Muskegon Chronicle.
Eleven of the 16 public school districts and public school academies in the county reported lower enrollment, ranging from a 0.1 percent drop in Montague to 16 percent in Muskegon Heights, The Chronicle reported. The four schools reporting increases included Mona Shores, at 0.4 percent, and Waypoint, with a 6 percent increase.
"There's just no employment here and people are moving," Muskegon Heights Public Schools Superintendent Dana Bryant told The Chronicle. Unemployment in the county is at 14 percent, the report said.
Muskegon Public Schools enrollment was boosted when Three Oaks Academy, a charter public school, decided to stop offering grades six, seven and eight, the report said. The academy reported an enrollment decline of 137 students.
SOURCE:
The Muskegon Chronicle, "Muskegon County schools lose 800 students as families move out," Sept.
30, 2010
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for
Public Policy, "Common School Funding Myths," Sept. 7, 2010
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