APS Student Count Day

In the state of Michigan all schools are funded primarily through two student count days, one in the fall and one in the spring.

According to APS Superintendent Doctor John VanWagoner, numbers around the district are down slightly compared to last year, but the district did project for the small loss.

VanWagoner attributes the decrease to lower kindergarten enrollment numbers not balancing out with graduating classes.

“Essentially right now what we’re seeing all across the state, and especially in Northern Michigan, we’re seeing a lot of classes that our kindergarten classes are just coming in lower than our graduating classes are. Over the last ten years we’ve had a real population shift in the state of Michigan, and so the reality of that is that across the state just less students coming into our kindergarten classes from our graduating classes. But essentially that’s been expected. We’ve taken a look at those projects and have a pretty good understanding of that.”

VanWagoner went on to say that the district is very comfortable with their projections, budgeted staff and student numbers.