[09/24/02]The Vicksburg Warren School District showed about a 3 percent decline in enrollment from the beginning of last school year to the beginning of this school year, but school officials are satisfied with the numbers.

“I’m excited about the number,” Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Donald Oakes said. “I’m surprised it’s that high.”

The enrollment for the beginning of the 2001-02 school year was 9,201 students. The enrollment for the beginning of this school year was 8,945, a 256-student drop.

Oakes said the district has more students enrolled this year than the district had by the end of the last school year, 8,851 students.

“What we have to do is keep the students we have now,” Oakes said.

He said the decline in numbers can be attributed to two main factors: students dropping out and a decline in school-age kids in families.

The district has had a recurring problem with students dropping out, he said.

In the 1995-’96 school year, 321 students dropped out; 296 in 1996-’97; 296 in 1997-’98; 233 in 1998-’99; no rate available for 1999-2000; and 262 in 2000-01. Those figures show an average annual dropout rate of 3.07 percent.

If that rate continues the district will lose 275 students this school year.

The problem with the decline in students is it directly affects the funding the district receives.

“Under the new Mississippi Adequate Education Act, we receive $3,500 per year for the average daily attendance,” Oakes said. “I always thought it should be based on enrollment because you’ve got to have the teachers there and the building there and the lights on, whether all the kids come everyday or not.”

Oakes said the district is fighting the dropout rate with a program to teach technical skills to junior high students who are older than the average students in those classes.