During Tuesday night’s discussion between the Board of Supervisors and the School Board, there was a lot of talk about how many students are in school.
Here’s the reason the number is so important: Money. King George and the state both come up with a figure of what they believe will be the ADM, or average daily membership.
The state contributes $4,418 to King George County for each student on the books, while the county pays $2,192 per student.
That’s $6,610 per student, so you can see why school officials are so keen on having the most accurate ADM as possible.
If schools build in more money into their budgets because they think their ADM is going to be a certain number—and it’s not that high—they face a funding shortfall, which is what has happened in King George this year.
The two boards talked for a while Tuesday about why the membership numbers have dropped. School Board Chairman Mike Rose said it’s the first time in 10 years that the number is lower than the previous year.
He said 205 students basically dropped off the books during the summer. Here’s the breakdown:

• 88 transferred to other public schools in Virginia
• 64 transferred out of state
• 29 transferred to home or private schools
• 14 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 6 never showed up
• 10 dropped out of high school
• TOTAL: 205 summer withdrawals

Supervisor Joe Grzeika said the economy also plays a part in the lower student numbers. People are not building houses and moving into the area like before. The number of building permits recorded in 2011 certainly speaks to that.
A Jan. 20 report from the Department of Community Development shows there were 68 permits issued for single-family dwellings in 2011. In 2006, the number was 296!
Here’s the complete report:

Building activity