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The official head count for Michigan K-12 school districts was taken last Wednesday. The results will be sent to Lansing, where they will figured into the formula for state per pupil aid.

Marlette recorded the biggest drop Ð 97 students since September 2006.

"We've lost a lot of good families," said Marlette Superintendent Duane Lange.

"Take a drive around the area Ð for sale signs, empty houses...Nobody moving in is the big issue." Until there's a change for the better, Marlette will attempt to "weather the storm" by cutting costs and tapping its fund equity, he said.

"The problem is we do not have a lot of young families in the area (anymore)," explained Peck Superintendent Dave Bush, whose district was down 46 students in the count.

"The only way to maintain the numbers is to bring in the same amount in kindergarten as you graduate. Until the economy turns I see us continue to decline in the coming years."

Bush added, "We will really have to watch our spending until the economy straightens out...This will pass also, but it will take a few years...The other aspect of this is property values are going down so the amount of money brought in makes county and local budgets tighten."

Over the last couple years school administrators have learned to prepare very lean budgets, but this year they really had no idea how much funding they would end up with.

Bush said schools have to adopt their budgets in June, but they usually have a pretty good idea how much state aid they are going to get. However, this year the legislature has still not adopted a new budget, despite the Sept. 30 deadline.

Schools must figure their enrollment on the fourth Wednesday of September and in mid-February, although the September numbers are weighted heavier.

Where do the schools stand as they did the official count last week?

Marlette is down 97 students from last fall, and 84 from last February. Enrollment stands at 1,179.

"We made a lot of cuts (last year and) anticipated losing 40 some. We will continue to monitor our expenses. Based on last year's (state funding) we would have a $325,000 deficit," said Superintendent Duane Lange.

Lange said they will cut as much as they can, but they will have to take the rest out of the $1.6 million fund equity.

Sandusky's enrollment is down 65 students from last fall, and 44 from February. Their K-12 enrollment stands at 1,263 this September.

"We budgeted for 1,272 so we have to make an adjustment," stated Superintendent Martha Essenmacher.

"Our kindergarten is not down. We initially planned for a smaller kindergarten...The reason our numbers are holding is because Mr. Luis (principal) ran a successful marketing campaign. We have also developed an early development wing, and the latch key program also helps working parents," she added.

Essenmacher said their pre-school programs have big waiting lists, which they hope will result in higher kindergarten enrollment down the line.

Peck's enrollment, which is usually quite stable, took a big drop this fall too. They are down 46 students from last September and 50 from February.

Their current enrollment is 579 in grades K-12

"We had a large senior class (61 last year) and a small kindergarten (29 this fall). It was one of the largest classes in years," Bush said.

He had budgeted for 590 students so they are short funding for 11.

The plus side is Peck took in 124 schools of choice students from other districts this year.

Deckerville is continuing the steady slide the district has been on for years. This year enrollment is down 45 from last fall and 22 from February. Their student count now stands at 688.

Superintendent Alan Broughton said they had budgeted for 700 students. "We're losing lot of kids in the area," said Broughton, who has seen the district's enrollment drop from 953 in 1997-98. I"t's almost a steady decline every year. The last few years, it's just been huge. The small family farms in the community...that tended to have large families are gone. The local manufacturing base is struggling. We're finding parents having to move away because there are no jobs in the Deckerville area."

Brown City's K-12 enrollment has dropped by 38.5 from last September and 10 from February. It is now at 1,011 students.

"I budgeted based on 992 K-12, I tend to budget on the gloom side," said Business Manager Janet Stimson.

Brown City's alternative education enrollment is actually up 10 from 44 last fall and four over February's count. Brown City Schools run alternative education programs in Croswell and Brown City. Cros-Lex took over the alternative ed program at the career center this year.

Croswell-Lexington saw a 20 student drop from last fall and six from February. The present enrollment is 2,361.

Assistant Superintendent Jackie Huepenbecker said they budgeted for 2,367, but they now have eight more students attending the alternative ed program at the career center than last year.

"So we are right on target. We will do okay, depending on what the state does," she noted.

Enrollment in PEAK (alternative education located in the career center) is at 32 students this year, up from 28 in 2006.

Carsonville-Port Sanilac experienced the lowest enrollment drop in grades K-12 this year.

They are down 14 students and eight from February, and came out with a K-12 enrollment of 566.

What helped CPS is their alternative education program, which at 56 students is up nine students from last fall and four students from last winter.

"We are up 32 from what I budgeted...that is the key to it," stated Business Manager Margie Christenbery.

"Obviously we are pleased. We've got $172,000 to add to fund equity depending on what the state does," she added.