Lawrence Public Schools (Shutterstock photo)

Projections of enrollment increases over the next five years for Lawrence schools have district officials concerned about how to pay for those additional students.

Because of changes to the funding formula, which recently switched from a per-pupil method to a block grant system, additional students don’t guarantee additional funding, said Rick Doll, superintendent of Lawrence public schools.

“It’s a huge concern because if we grow and need more teachers we have to pay for those teachers out of the same pot of money,” Doll explained.

The district has seen a stable increase in students for the past five years, and that trend is projected to continue, Doll said. The enrollment projections were part of a report, by the educational planning firm RSP & Associates, that was presented at this week’s school board meeting.

After a general decline in enrollment from 2000 to 2009 that saw around 700 students leave the district, the number of students increased by more than 600 from 2010 to 2014, according to the report. The report projects growth to slowly continue for the next five years, with an increase of more than 300 students in that time.

With those projections and the new funding formula, Lawrence school district officials are keeping a wary eye on enrollment numbers for the approaching school year. The report projected anywhere between 30 and 130 additional students to enroll, but the actual enrollment numbers won’t be known until Sept. 21, which is the official count day, Doll said.

“In the past each of those students would have generated dollars that would have helped pay for the new teachers, but that’s not the case anymore, at least for the next two years,” Doll said, referencing the block grant system that will be in place for two years, during which time legislators have said they will put together a new funding formula.

During that time frame, there are two ways to address enrollment increases: either using money from the district’s reserve fund or by shifting money away from other areas, Doll said.

“You dig further into our reserve, which we are already doing, or you cut somewhere else so you can have the dollars to hire the teacher,” he said.

The district’s enrollment for next year is projected at about 10,300 students, and does not count the 877 full-time students in the Lawrence Virtual School, which includes students from across the state, Doll said. As students continue to enroll in the weeks leading up to the first day of school, officials will be paying attention.

“We are watching our enrollment very closely, and making adjustments as we need to, even right down to the start of school,” Doll said.