This was a welcome turnaround for the district after it lost nearly 12,700 students during the pandemic. Officials attribute this recent surge in enrollment to the influx of immigrant students.
Harnett County Schools improved family engagement, added a virtual academy, and designated staff members to personally track down dropouts to find out what it would take to get them to come back.
Two of the most impactful steps in improving K12 customer service are to reduce the number of people whom a parent needs to reach to resolve a problem and ensure that all contacts are courteous.
"We will have to make tough choices. Our resources must match our revenue," Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Brent Jones said in a message to the community.
School closures may be necessary for some districts that continue to overspend without producing meaningful outcomes, said Director of Georgetown University's Edunomics Lab Marguerite Roza in a webinar Wednesday.
Even with all 225 students, most staff members and a handful of parents inside, the Nellie Stone Johnson Community School's gymnasium was far from packed during a recent assembly. Yet the space buzzed with the kids' excited whispers.
Gov. Ron DeSantis' new law would provide each student with an estimated $8,700 voucher. Experts wonder where the money to support this initiative will come from.
"With federal discretionary spending at its lowest levels since 1989, cuts in federal aid pressure state and local governments to fill the gap," according to a new analysis by HeyTutor.
