Beaver Area School District - Enrollment

Enrollment

According to Pennsylvania Department of Education enrollment reports, there are less than 1900 students enrolled in K-12 in 2009–10 school year at Beaver Area School District. There were 179 students in the Class of 2009. The district's class of 2010 had 149 students. Enrollment is projected to decline to 1700 students by 2020< In 2008, the district administrative costs were $810.41 per pupil. The lowest administrative cost per pupil in Pennsylvania was $398 per pupil. A study of Pennsylvania public school spending, conducted by Standard and Poor's, examined the consolidation of low enrollment public schools in Beaver County and western Pennsylvania. The study found that consolidation of the administration with an adjacent school district would achieve substantial administrative cost savings which varied by district. Two Beaver County school districts voluntarily consolidated to better serve their student: Monaca School District and Center Area School District became Central Valley School District in 2009. School districts in Beaver County are struggling to address the growing imbalance caused by a precipitous decline in enrollment coupled with no significant reduction of staff or number of facilities. All of the 15 school districts in Beaver County have less than 3,000 students.

According to a 2009 school district administration consolidation proposal by then Governor Edward Rendell, the excessive administrative overhead dollars could be redirected to improve lagging academic achievement, to enrich the academic programs or to reduce property taxes. Consolidation of two central administrations into one would not require the closing of any schools. The Governor's proposal called for the savings to be redirected to improving lagging reading and science achievement, to enriching the academic programs or to reducing residents' property taxes.

Since 2000, rural Pennsylvania public school enrollment has decreased by over 10 percent. As the enrollment declines, per pupil administrative costs of the schools continue to rise. In March 2011, the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants released a report finding that the state would save hundreds of millions of tax dollars, by cutting the number of school administrations in half through consolidation, with no impact on programs offered to students.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has one of the highest numbers of school districts in the nation. In Pennsylvania, 80% of the school districts serve student populations under 5,000, and 40% serve less than 2,000. This results in excessive school administration bureaucracy and not enough course diversity. In a survey of 88 superintendents of small districts, 42% of the 49 respondents stated that they thought consolidation would save money without closing any schools.