HOPE – The official student population within the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. rose 5.6% from the count taken one year ago.
The Hope-area public schools have 982 students this year – 52 more than the 930 reported to the state in October 2023.
“We knew we would be up a little bit based on the sizes of the classes we’ve been running, ” Flat Rock-Hawcreek Superintendent Shawn Price said. “But we didn’t expect to be up this many. That’s quite a bit for a small school district like ours.”
While a higher base enrollment at Hope Elementary and Hauser Jr.-Sr. High bodes well for state funding, Price said other factors are considered. One is a special education count that will be taken next month, he said. There is also additional funds provided for career-technical students, as well as those working to become certified for certain skills or who have received certain honors, Price said.
At Hope Elementary, the enrollment in first grade rose from 61 to 86, the number of third graders went up from 52 to 94, and the count for sixth graders climbed from 75 to 87, according to the approved pupil enrollment count.
While Hauser was only able to graduate 56 seniors during commencement exercises in May, the Class of 2025 should have 87 young people if current levels are maintained. In addition, the number of 11th graders at Hauser rose from 79 to 87 students.
Five grades have experienced a drop in enrollment since the fall of 2023, but the superintendent says that’s not unusual.
“There will be ebbs and flows, but it’s nice to see the (enrollment) numbers starting to stabilize for planning purposes,” Price said
Throughout the school district in the Hope area, there are 403 students from financially-challenged families who qualify for free meals – nine more that last year. The number of children who qualify for reduced-price means rose from 74 to 86.
