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NEWPORT — As of this month, enrollment at Newport High School is less than what the Newport School District budgeted for over the summer.
Newport High School’s count for October is 250.65 full-time equivalent students — 40.35 FTEs under the district’s budget, and 1.62 FTEs less than what the district counted in September. The district has also lost students in Stratton Elementary School and Home Link, whose FTEs decreased by 3.05 and 0.40 between September and October.
“We didn’t realize that there would be that many losses of students,” business manager Debra Buttrey said Friday, Oct.
16.
At the Newport School Board’s Tuesday, Oct. 14 meeting, Buttrey described these losses as significant. She had similar concerns about enrollment during the board’s last meeting in September, after the district had counted enrollment for the first month of the school year.
“I like to be a little bit more conservative, so this does worry me this early,” Buttrey said at the Tuesday, Oct. 14 meeting.
However, FTE counts at all other schools besides Newport High School are over the district’s budget. With counts of 369 and 167.9 FTEs, Stratton Elementary School and Home Link are 31 and 12.9 over budget despite decreases in the last month.
Sadie Halstead Middle School and the Pend Oreille River School have 289.64 and 49.91 FTEs, which are 10.64 and 19.91 over budget. The former has even gained 1.04 FTEs since September.
That places the district at 1,127 FTEs, 34 more than its budget. Still, Buttrey recommended the district continue to monitor FTE counts as the school year progresses.
“We’re still above-budget, but it’s still not as comfortable as I like to be,” Buttrey said at the Tuesday, Oct. 14 meeting.
Washington state funds districts based on enrollment, with an average of 21 students funding one teacher. Each student equates to about $10,291 to $11,156 from the state.
Enrollment at schools nationwide has decreased since the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to recover. Buttrey said she “couldn’t say” if decreasing enrollment at the district was related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Either way, the district expects FTE counts to continue decreasing over the next four years and may take action during the 2026–2027 budget process to address enrollment.
For now, the district will not.
“We’re going to monitor,” Buttrey said Friday, Oct. 16. “We’re not pushing any action on anything.”
Other school districts in Pend Oreille County are also over-budget in enrollment.
Unlike the Newport School District, the Cusick School District has a higher FTE count at all of its schools than its budget, with 112 at Bess Herian Elementary School, 158 at Cusick Junior/Senior High School and 110 in HomePride ALE as of this month. That places the Cusick School District 36 FTEs over-budget at 380. Last month the Selkirk School District counted 237 FTEs, two over the district’s budget.
Across the border, the West Bonner County School District is “right at the target” enrollment of about 900 with a head count of 941, Superintendent Kim Spacek said. That includes 419 students at Priest River Lamanna Junior/Senior High School and 522 students between Priest River, Idaho Hill and Priest Lake Elementary Schools.
Idaho state funds districts based on attendance rather than enrollment. As of Oct. 21, grades K–12 and K–8 at the West Bonner County School District have average daily attendance rates of 91.3% and 96%.
“The thing we need to work with parents on is getting kids to school,” Spacek said. “We want to be as close to [100%] as possible.”
