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Schools

Racine Unified School District Budget Impacted by Declining Enrollment

RUSD predicts 160 fewer students this year

There will be fewer kids attending Racine Unified School District this fall, and that will have a big impact on the $260 million budget, which will be among several budget items discussed at a meeting on Monday night.

As the budget points out, before the district figures out anything, they have to figure out the number of kids who will be attending this year. For each child the district teaches, the state gives the school district $9,799. 

Total overall enrollment at RUSD schools in the 2011-2012 school year is expected to be 21,517, a  decline of 160 from the previous year. That's partly due to the state's new voucher program, which allows for 250 RUSD students to attend private schools using public funds.

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The district anticipates that enrollment in the 2012-2013 school year will decline even more (mostly because of the growing voucher program) before climbing back up to 22,104 in the 2015-2016 school year.

This year, there will be 2,811 children in kindergarten, 4K and Pre-K programs sponsored by RUSD.

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The district is only anticipating that 13 kids will come in from other districts (open enrollment), but that the number of kids leaving the district through open enrollment will increase dramatically, from 690 to 751. Losing those kids means a $4.35 million revenue loss.

The RUSD School Board is meeting on Monday, Aug. 15, at 5:30 p.m. at the ASC Board and Conference Rooms, 2220 Northwestern Ave, and there will be an opportunity for the public to comment.

Correction: This version corrects the

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