CHS sees funding decli ne as enrollment drops 7% in two years a school twice Conifer’s size would need to hire the same administrative team, but those employees would be supported by the funding of almost two thousand students instead of Conifer’s 813.
continue decreasing in the coming years.
This year’s graduating senior class includes 201 students, but the current 8th grade class at West Jefferson Middle School, the only feeder school for CHS, is 177 students. The school will need to recruit another 24 students to meet current enrollment numbers.
By Maya Dawson
Almost 7% of Conifer High School students left the school during the past two academic years, which has cut into the schools’ funding and left the administration with less money to pay teachers. Teachers are working multiple positions or have had their hours reduced, while administrators are not filling vacant positions as employees retire – and the situation is only expected to get worse in the coming years as enrollment decreases.
“If I don’t have 24 students… that’s one teacher reduction,” CHS Principal Wesley Paxton said. Paxton explained that these cuts in funding are hitting Conifer particularly hard because it is one of the smallest schools in the district, which makes it more expensive to operate. For instance,
Conifer also does not receive Title I funds, which are based on the number of students receiving free or reduced lunch, or Title IV funds, which are determined by the number of second language learners at a school. “We need to have a larger per-pupil funding to support the programs we have here and the increasing need for additional supports, like mental health specialists, additional counseling services, and administrative services,” Paxton said. Paxton will be meeting with the district superintendent to discuss the need for greater per-pupil funding in small schools, but in the meantime is reaching out to the community in an effort to recruit more students.
“It’s put a lot of strain on other teachers to pick up the slack of the part-time teachers when we aren’t available,” said Brian Bunnell, an AP Chemistry teacher who reduced his hours this year. CHS had 873 students during the 20182019 school year, before the pandemic, and has lost 60 students since then. This may seem like a small change, but the money the school receives from the district is based on how many students are enrolled at CHS. This year the school received $5,130 for each student at the school, meaning that in the past two years the school has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding. Enrollment is expected to
Photo by Corey Neumeier AP Chemistry teacher Brian Bunnell holds a part-time teaching position this year due to the school’s decreased funding, along with half of the school’s science department, making it difficult for students to get help outside of class.
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