Instead Of Dropping, School Enrollment Climbs Unexpectedly

Madison Selectman Diane Stadterman reported at this week's Board of Selectmen meeting that school enrollment, as of August 27th, stood at 3,345, 135 more than the district had planned for and budgeted.

She said that enrollment numbers typically fluctuate immediately prior to and during the first week of school, but it is clear that the number is higher than expected.

"The Board of Education is pretty sure it can handle [the additional students] without higher costs," she said. "They are working hard to rework their budget."

At one point the district thought it might lose up to 175 students this year, she said. "But instead of losing 175, we gained 135," she said.

Stadterman said the Board of Education is working with the company that does the projections to find out why there was such a large discrepancy between the estimate and the number of students enrolled.

She said Madison School Superintendent Thomas Scarice made some preliminary inquiries and was told by some real estate agents that the number of homes being leased is very high. "People are not selling, they are renting," she said. "So the population is increasing, when we thought it would be decreasing."