Net Impact of Schools of Choice on Districts

For conventional schools, residency is generally the determining factor for which public school a child will attend. However, through Schools of Choice, some districts report that a majority of their residents have left for other districts, while others report that a majority of their enrolled students are nonresident students.

After accounting for both Schools of Choice enrollment gains and losses, 256 school districts saw a net enrollment gain of students under Schools of Choice. For the 2011-12 school year, the following 33 districts (with enrollments exceeding 100 students) had more than 20 percent of their final net enrollment come from students entering through Schools of Choice.[*] None of the districts on this list are city districts: Fourteen are suburban, 16 are rural and three are districts located in towns.

Graphic 13: Net Gains Per Schools of Choice
Greater Than 20 Percent of Enrollment, 2011-12

Rank	District Name	Enroll-ment	Entering via SOC	Exiting via SOC	Net SOC	% Net SOC
1	West Bloomfield	6,523	1,728	68	1,660	25.45%
2	Clintondale	3,715	2,547	988	1,559	41.97%
3	Lakeview (Macomb)	3,795	1,587	157	1,430	37.68%
4	Fraser	5,277	1,399	231	1,168	22.13%
5	Riverview	2,832	1,154	79	1,075	37.96%
6	Dearborn Heights #7	2,909	1,186	236	950	32.66%
7	Western	2,927	819	81	738	25.21%
8	Carrollton	2,050	835	114	721	35.17%
9	Corunna	2,243	829	176	653	29.11%
10	Pennfield	2,100	729	81	648	30.86%
11	Bangor Township	2,533	746	112	634	25.03%
12	Inkster	2,660	1,109	530	579	21.77%
13	Swan Valley	1,815	550	63	487	26.83%
14	Madison (Lenawee)	1,521	699	222	477	31.36%
15	Berrien Springs	2,140	543	70	473	22.10%
16	Clawson	1,794	560	92	468	26.09%
17	Jonesville	1,469	578	129	449	30.57%
18	Vandercook Lake	1,275	498	83	415	32.55%
19	Essexville-Hampton	1,771	505	96	409	23.09%
20	Houghton-Portage Township	1,333	430	68	362	27.16%
21	Sand Creek	952	348	54	294	30.88%
22	Watervliet	1,338	384	99	285	21.30%
23	Bridgman	988	297	40	257	26.01%
24	Genesee	825	263	50	213	25.82%
25	Reese	911	240	27	213	23.38%
26	Beal City	671	262	65	197	29.36%
27	New Lothrop	881	216	20	196	22.25%
28	Eau Claire	801	345	150	195	24.34%
29	Bark River-Harris	691	193	18	175	25.33%
30	Saugatuck	838	179	8	171	20.41%
31	Pittsford	671	239	90	149	22.21%
32	Mar Lee	326	172	51	121	37.12%
33	Leland	455	132	36	96	21.10%

Source: Center for Educational Performance and Information.

There are 47 school districts of 100 students or more where the number of students leaving through Schools of Choice amounts to more than 20 percent of the district’s total resident students. The Galien Township School District (which closed after the 2012-13 school year) saw the largest proportional losses, with more students leaving than those who stayed.

Unlike the previous list, there are a four city districts that saw a net loss of 20 percent or more: Pontiac, Battle Creek, Van Dyke and Jackson.[†] Eleven of the districts listed below are suburban, 29 are rural and three are located in towns.

Graphic 14: Net Losses Per Schools of Choice Greater than 20 Percent of Enrollment, 2011-2012

Rank	District Name	Enroll-ment	Exiting via SOC	Net SOC	% Net SOC
1	East Detroit	3,677	2,202	-2,179	37.46%
2	Pontiac	5,430	2,100	-2,097	27.89%
3	Battle Creek	5,393	1,646	-1,524	23.38%
4	Jackson	6,055	1,816	-1,487	23.07%
5	Benton Harbor	3,089	1,348	-1,325	30.38%
6	Lincoln Park	4,773	1,436	-1,072	23.13%
7	Roseville	5,233	1,543	-979	22.77%
8	Adrian	3,187	1,203	-937	27.40%
9	Mount Clemens	1,534	1,020	-773	39.94%
10	Van Dyke	3,088	823	-724	21.04%
11	Albion	820	651	-649	44.26%
12	Willow Run	1,672	903	-621	35.07%
13	New Haven	1,328	634	-620	32.31%
14	Hillsdale	1,535	491	-327	24.23%
15	Mayville	779	333	-297	29.95%
16	Ecorse	1,016	534	-295	34.45%
17	Baldwin	599	277	-276	31.62%
18	Buena Vista	644	357	-270	35.66%
19	River Valley	688	294	-221	29.94%
20	Bellevue	616	267	-206	30.24%
21	Akron-Fairgrove	275	199	-181	41.98%
22	Galien	126	211	-171	62.61%
23	Madison (Oakland)	1332	708	-164	34.71%
24	Addison	897	264	-158	22.74%
25	Covert	531	153	-133	22.37%
26	Martin	586	215	-129	26.84%
27	Morrice	552	224	-128	28.87%
28	Merrill	722	203	-122	21.95%
29	Litchfield	329	141	-116	30.00%
30	Vanderbilt	154	119	-107	43.59%
31	Mason County Eastern	483	201	-107	29.39%
32	Athens	612	156	-99	20.31%
33	Stanton Township	140	86	-85	38.05%
34	North Adams-Jerome	434	186	-80	30.00%
35	East Jackson	1244	315	-80	20.21%
36	Tekonsha	286	101	-68	26.10%
37	Owendale-Gagetown	199	102	-62	33.89%
38	Chassell Township	262	105	-55	28.61%
39	Arenac Eastern	265	73	-51	21.60%
40	Waldron	293	94	-39	24.29%
41	Suttons Bay	649	178	-34	21.52%
42	Republic-Michigamme	141	39	-29	21.67%
43	Kaleva Norman Dickson	626	163	-17	20.66%
44	Northport	152	42	-16	21.65%
45	Onekama	419	112	8	21.09%
46	River Rouge	1147	404	64	26.05%
47	Clintondale	3715	988	1559	21.01%

Source: Center for Educational Performance and Information.

[*] This analysis is limited to districts with at least 100 students, because many small districts were disproportionately highly ranked in terms of the percentage of students enrolled through Schools of Choice.

[†] Pontiac and Battle Creek appear to be struggling academically and financially. See: Jennifer Chambers, “Pontiac School Board OKs Consultant for Consent Agreement,” The Detroit News, Oct. 15, 2013, accessed Oct. 24, 2013, http://goo.gl/xH7lfN; Karen Lynn Todd, “BCPS Superintendent: Teachers, Outdoor Ed Center on Block,” Battle Creek Enquirer, May 20, 2013, accessed Oct. 24, 2013, http://goo.gl/MEMCV4; Lindsay Knake, “Saginaw County School Districts See Spikes, Sharp Declines in Enrollment,” MLive, Oct. 3, 2013, accessed Oct. 24, 2013, http://goo.gl/SLoDTP.

Net Impact of Schools of Choice on Districts

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