Craven County Schools analysis: many families choosing alternatives never enrolled with district, board told

A staff presentation at the board—s work session laid out enrollment trends showing that although most local families use Craven County Schools, a notable number of families who opt for alternatives never enrolled with the district before leaving.

Dr. Hilary Boutwell, a district staff member, told trustees a cross-check of enrollment, charter, private and homeschooling records found that roughly 94.3% of the students in the district—s data set chose public education through Craven County Schools. But she said about 22.4% of the students who later selected an alternate schooling option had "never started with us to begin with."

Why it matters: State funding and staffing decisions rely on average daily membership (ADM) determinations that are fixed early in the school year. When students enroll in or return from alternatives after the state—s 20-day snapshot, the district serves children without receiving the corresponding state funding, complicating budgets and staffing plans.

Key findings presented

Boutwell and her team compared district records, charter rosters and private/homeschool data back to 2013. She said the analysis showed: - Many families who choose a non-district option did not previously enroll in Craven County Schools; Boutwell said roughly 22.4% of those who choose another option never started with the district. - Across the private, charter and homeschool categories compiled for the report, about 18.2% of students who had been counted in the dataset had left and later returned to Craven County Schools. - For charter schools specifically, of 738 students who left for charters in the district—s record set, 39 returned (about 5.3%); two hundred seventy-two remained enrolled in charters but 210 of the 738 (about 28.5%) never attended Craven County Schools.

Boutwell said the timing of departures matters: "Of all these put in together, 27.6%... have enrolled after the first 20 days of school. So 27.6% have come to us after the fact." Those late returns, she said, do not count toward state ADM allocations.

Board and administration reaction

Board members raised budget and policy concerns. Trustee Jennifer Dacey and others said the board should press the General Assembly and state officials for a midyear ADM adjustment or other changes to how the state counts membership, because the current timing creates multi-year funding implications when students enroll late.

Superintendent Dr. Miller confirmed that local and state funding flows are affected and that some local funding the district receives must be forwarded to charter schools when a resident student attends a charter. "When you live in Jones County and you come here your guardian is paying taxes in Jones County so we're saying when you come here you're not paying taxes. So we're gonna collect that local part that we're now responsible for," an exchange in the meeting made clear.

What happens next: Boutwell recommended that families be invited to visit district schools and that board and staff continue to monitor choice trends and report procurement and budget impacts to the board. Trustees discussed possible legislative advocacy to permit a midyear funding adjustment or other technical fixes.

Ending: The district—s cross-check of enrollment and alternative-school rosters illustrated that choice trends are not a simple outflow; many families who select alternatives never had an in-district point of comparison. Trustees asked staff to return with further analysis and requested the district pursue legislative channels to address the state—s ADM timing rules if feasible.