Manchester school buses can get packed up with lots of good things, but the number of kids who are transported has declined in the past 10 years.

by Marsha Chartrand, with resources from Bridge Michigan 

Schools of choice are not going away — and education experts say that policymakers need to make it easier for districts to cope with choice now that 1 in 4 state pupils attends a district outside their own.

Adding to these concerns is the fact that the Michigan population overall has stagnated for decades, and currently ranks 49th among states for population growth since 1990. Manchester’s location in the southwestern corner of Washtenaw County has not been an attraction to new students, and the dropping population, resulting in fewer school programs — both academic and athletic — has not helped.

Like Morenci in southern Lenawee County, which has seen a similar attrition rate over the past 10 years, Manchester faces a deeper and deeper hole, which administrators admit they are working hard to dig out of.

Often, administrators do not find out they are losing a student until the new district requests a transferring student’s records; there is no formal notification process and the loss can occur after a district has hired teachers and other staff for the year, officials said.

“There’s a very little built-in runway for districts that are losing students,” said Sarah Winchell Lenhoff, an associate professor of education at Wayne State University. When students leave small districts, “it’s just really hard to suffer these losses and kind of bounce back.”

In Morenci, 28% of the 674 kids who lived in the district attended separate districts in 2022–23, including 79 who went to Hudson schools, the top destination.

In the past decade, Morenci enrollment has dropped by more than 25%, costing the district $1.7 million in state aid in 2022–23 alone, according to Bridge Michigan. That’s prompted administrators to trim bus service, eliminate the golf team, delay hiring a wrestling coach, and downsize to eight-player football teams from 11 players.

Nearby Hudson has recorded a 30% increase in enrollment over the past decade and built a center for science and industry. The increase is entirely from choice: The number of kids living within the actual district fell 10% in the past 10 years.

In Hudson, the growth of choice students began 10 years ago, when the district was running a deficit and facing scrutiny by the state. After a series of austerity measures, the district added a Center for Science and Technology, where students learn about robotics and advanced manufacturing.

Along with successful football and wrestling programs, the program became a draw for neighboring students. Now, 4 in 10 of Hudson’s students are from other districts, a ratio that school board president Wes Rowan told Bridge “shocked” him.

He said improvements were never intended to poach students but to become “the best version of Hudson Area Schools that we can be.”

“There is no doubt that the schools of choice system is dangerous. And I don’t mean dangerous in a bad way,” Rowan said. “I mean, it comes with certain risks when you are a school-of-choice state. One of those risks is that you begin to see yourself in just a competitive market for students.

“That can be true, but the challenge for us as schools that participate in schools of choice is not to see the students as a commodity.”

While in 2012 Manchester gained more students than it lost through school of choice, ten years later that is no longer the case. Manchester’s significant numbers from 2012–13 to 2022–23 are as follows:

• Enrollment in 2012: 1,193 — Enrollment in 2022: 778. (Decrease of 34.8%)
• Students living in the District in 2012: 1,162 — Students living in the District in 2022: 840. (Decrease of 27.7%)
• Students staying in the District in 2012: 94.6% — Students staying in the District in 2022: 80.4%. (Decrease of 14.2%)
• Students from other Districts in 2012: 9.4%— Students from other Districts in 2022: 13.2%. (Increase of 3.8%)
• Students leaving to Charters in 2012: 1.3% — Students leaving to Charters in 2022: 3%. (Increase of 1.7%)
• Students leaving to other Districts in 2012: 4.1% — Students leaving to other Districts in 2022: 16.7%. (Increase of 12.6%)

Manchester Community Schools Superintendent Brad Bezeau noted that the declining enrollment in Manchester is “accurate,” and has many components. Lower birth rates, availability (or lack of) affordable housing, and restrictions on new builds are just a few of those reasons. And there are ample school of choice options for families within the area.

“I don’t think that is new information to people, but I could be wrong,” he said. “Regarding our enrollment from the past summer, which was encouraging, we did have 30 new enrollments at Manchester Jr./Sr. High School with 18 departures at that building. We also had 13 new enrollments at Riverside, as well as 55 enrollments at Klager, largely Kindergarten and Young 5s students. These are positive signs, but ones that don’t necessarily counteract the smaller graduating classes that Manchester has been experiencing for some time.”

Bezeau acknowledged that as part of the focus of the recent Bond Renewal that was passed on November 7, many statements were made regarding the need for upgrades and improvements to “attract more students from surrounding areas and to keep those students and families with us that were already here.”

Bezeau added, “The faith and trust that the voters placed in the school district is humbling and does not go unrecognized. We will continue to be good stewards and continue to build something that we can all be proud of and something that will serve as a magnet and draw throughout the area and region, truly signaling to everyone that Manchester is the place to be!”

Bezeau also took the opportunity to quote from a letter to the editor of the Mirror that he indicated reflected not only his own feelings but he felt was in line with the spirit of the Bridge Michiganarticle quoted above.

“Manchester is not the only school facing challenges with declining enrollment. Our district needs these improvements to help promote a great educational experience and environment and to make our community school a ‘destination location.’ Not only for those seeking school-of-choice enrollment but to keep those students currently in our district, in our district. We should be focusing on continuing to support our local community schools before they cease to exist.”

Credit is due to Mike Wilkinson and Isabel Lohman of Bridge Michigan for their article “In Michigan, 1 in 4 kids go to school outside district, as choice expands,” dated December 1, 2023.