The Mason School District projects having 60 to 80 fewer students next year. The Lansing School District's consultants expect student enrollment next year to range from an increase of 82 students to a drop of 307. Last year, the Lansing School District planned for a decrease of 608 students for the 2000-2001 school year. The district only lost 214. It hired 101 teachers this year, due in part to state money available because of the higher enrollment than projected.
Schools try to avoiding hiring teachers in the fall, when the selection is limited.
We pretty much have to make decisions by early summer. The best graduates will have jobs by then. With so much at stake, most school districts hire consultants to project enrollment. Fred Ignatovich, a Michigan State University professor in education administration, has been doing enrollment projections since 1973. He does projections for about 120 school districts in Michigan - including Eaton Rapids, Waverly and Lansing.