Enrolment at Canadian Rockies Publics Schools has shown consistency in recent years as the division enters its final year of stabilization funding.
Statistics from the end of September 2015 showed 2,177 students enrolled at CRPS schools, which includes international students. That number is down by three students from last year and up by eight students from two years ago.
“Since about the year 2000, enrolments in the Bow Valley have been declining and for us, we reached the lowest enrolment of just over 2,000 (students) four years ago,” said CRPS secretary-treasurer Dave Mackenzie at the CRPS trustee meeting on Oct. 28. “Since then we’ve been climbing from that point and leveled over the past few years.”
Early predictions last school year from CRPS forecast a 2.25 per cent decrease in enrolment due to a high number of Grade 12s graduating from the division and a smaller number of kindergarten students expected for fall.
However, the Early Childhood Services program in CRPS showed the second highest demographic of student enrolment in the division at 191.
While schools like Exshaw, Elizabeth Rummel and Banff Elementary are slightly up in numbers from 2014-15, Banff and Canmore high schools are slightly down this year.
Mackenzie says some new students have joined CRPS and some have left; it’s a pattern commonly seen throughout the school year.
“We budgeted for a decline (in students) and generally our budgeting strategy is to be more conservative,” said Mackenzie, adding they’re up about 45-49 students. “So we’re up from budget and we had to make some changes based on an increase in enrolment early on.”
CRPS is currently in the last year of government stabilization funding for divisions affected by the 2013 floods.
“How they provide the stabilization funding is they froze our enrolment based on Alberta Education funded enrolment … they set the number at 1,919 and so they’re funding us at that level. We’re below that, currently we’re 11 students below that funded level,” Mackenzie said.
Board chair Carol Picard asked if there have been any updates on the per capita per student grant funding for 2016-17.
Mackenzie says it’ll most likely be announced sometime early in 2016.
