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Somerset outlines enrollment decline, open-enrollment loss and strategies to retain students
Summary
The district reported 142 open-enrollment students in and 159 out for the 2024'25 third-Friday count, an estimated net open-enrollment fiscal gap of about $140,000, and proposed strategies including a demographic study, a more flexible virtual program and targeted marketing to attract families.
District administrators presented detailed enrollment data and proposed short- and medium-term strategies to stabilize and grow student counts.
Using the September third-Friday count, staff said Somerset had 142 students open-enrolling into the district and 159 open-enrolling out. Administrators estimated an approximate net fiscal deficit from open enrollment of about $140,000 for 2024'25 when calculating tuition flows and IEP-related adjustments. They noted that 119 of the 159 students who left the district for other public or virtual options had never attended Somerset's schools, indicating much of the outflow reflects external choices rather than departures of established attendees.
Administrators proposed several actions: commissioning a demographic study (Applied Population Lab at UW'Madison) to produce better projections, investigating an all-day 4K pilot (noting state counting and transportation effects), making the district's virtual program more flexible outside strict semester enrollment and shifting to district teachers to reduce third-party costs, surveying withdrawn and homeschooling families for exit reasons, and increasing marketing/communications to highlight district strengths.
Superintendent and staff also reported a parent school-calendar survey with 491 responses and asked the board whether to explore giving staff greater autonomy on some professional learning days. Several board members supported investigating the proposals but requested more detail and possible action at future meetings or work sessions.
Administrators said next steps include targeted family outreach, a possible demographic contract, and exploring low-hanging adjustments to the virtual program (loosening semester enrollment barriers and staffing models) as short-term efforts to retain families.
Key enrollment figures provided in the meeting: 142 open-in, 159 open-out, 491 parent calendar-survey responses, and an estimated $140,000 net open-enrollment impact for 2024'25.
