Timing of new enrollment projections

Do you think there's any significance in the timing of the release of the new student enrollment projections?

As noted in today's article, the projections weren't released in the normal way. Traditionally, they've been released at a joint meeting of the school board and county commissioners.

Instead, they were released at the school board's facilities committee meeting.

Nicole Kreiser, the county budget and management analyst who helped Asst. Supt. Chuck Dulaney in drafting the projections, cautioned school board members that the figures were only preliminary. She said they hadn't been finalized and shared with county commissioners yet.

But after the committee meeting, Dulaney said he considers the projections to be final. He said they're going to be used by staff to help develop the new school budget.

It's possible that the figures could be shared at next week's joint meeting. But it's uncertain whether the meeting will still be held considering that Narold Webb, chairman of the board of commissioners, is still recovering from last month's stroke.

Last month's joint meeting was cancelled.

One benefit of getting the enrollment projections out now is that they were reviewed by the current school board, whose members cited them to justify their use of mandatory year-round schools.

Although growth has slowed, board members said their past decisions to increase mandatory year-round has created additional capacity that will come in handy now that money is short to build new schools.

The response likely would have been different if the projections had been presented first to the new board.