Rochester School Enrollment So Far Exceeds Projections

The official "count day" for is still three weeks away. But it already appears certain the district is above its enrollment projections for the 2012-13 school year. 

Dan Romzek, the district's assistant superintendent for business, said 51 more students than predicted have enrolled in Rochester schools so far this year. As of Monday, there were 14,817 students in the district, exceeding the 14,766 that was anticipated during school budget plans last spring.

In fact, school leaders said 70 new students enrolled on the first day of school. 

And while there is no data yet about where the students came from, school leaders were hearing that most of them were new to the school district.

"It did appear in talking to some principals that people are moving into Rochester," said Geraldine Moore, the district's assistant superintendent for instruction.

Moore said the new students were spread out among the schools and that some new sections had to open up because classes were "quite full." 

Romzek said that as of Monday there were 975 kindergarten students. This is the first year of all-day, everyday kindergarten in Rochester; in the spring, the district projected 956 kindergarten students.

Michigan's official school count day is Oct. 3. That's the day students are counted and the per pupil funding from the state is determined.