HERMANN – The new school year has gotten off to a good start, but Gasconade County R-1 School District administrators remain concerned about the continued drop in enrollment – a trend district officials hope will be reversed in the long term by new housing units being developed aimed at families of school-age children.

For R-1 officials, those new housing units can’t become available fast enough.

“It’s been a good start for the year,” said Superintendent Geof Neill at the R-1 Board of Directors’ regular monthly session Sept. 10. “It’s good to have the kids back,” he added.

Unfortunately, the return of this school year saw fewer students in the classrooms again. From Pre-Kindergarten through 12th Grade, the formal enrollment figure for this year is 732, Neill told the board. That’s about 25 students fewer than R-1 began with last school year. “We are still continuing to see the numbers go down,” the superintendent reported.

Indeed, last year’s graduating class of 85 appears to be the high-water mark for at least the next few years. According to reports from the building administrators, there’s only class that, at the current level of enrollment, will meet last year’s graduating class size – this year’s Freshman class of 87 students. Hermann High School began this school year with a student body of 283. Along with the Freshman class, this year’s roster at HHS has a Sophomore group of 79, a Junior class of 51 and Senior class of 66.

The numbers from Hermann Middle School offer little reason for increased optimism about growing the enrollment. The largest class at HMS, based on the numbers presented to the board at this month’s session, is the 8th Grade with 55 students. That number can be expected to be bumped up when those students become 9th graders and are joined by some of graduating the students from St. George Catholic School and Franklin County R-2.

Other HMS classes are 7th Grade with 43 students, 6th Grade with 50, 5th Grade with 46 and 4th Grade with 48. The Middle School reports an enrollment of 242.

The big drop in enrollment is most evident at Hermann Elementary School where new first-year Principal Mandy Koch reports an enrollment of 196, which includes four students in the Early Childhood Special Education program. Other grade levels and their numbers are Pre-Kindergarten with 19, Kindergarten with 36, 1st Grade with 45, 2nd Grade with 47 and 3rd Grade with 43.

Enrollment is key to the funding of public education because the state allocates dollars based on the number of students. A decrease such as the one seen in the R-1 District over the past dozen years has meant fewer per-pupil dollars coming from state government. That means the district must rely more on the dollars generated locally (property tax dollars) to operate the district.

The enrollment decrease is continuing at a particularly bad time for R-1 because state government is cutting back on education funding in a number of areas, including the all-important area of transportation. The enrollment decrease amounts to a double whammy for the district as fewer per-pupil dollars are coupled with less money allocated in other areas of public education.