Leading off Wednesday’s State of the Cities breakfast, Farmington Public Schools Superintendent Dr. George Heitsch talked numbers.
The district has experienced a 21 percent enrollment decline over the last decade, which created “pretty significant stress” on facilities and budget, he said. A look at this year’s kindergarten and senior classes reveal other significant changes:
Senior class
- 892 students (consistent with class sizes at the height of enrollment)
- over 26 percent eligible for free and reduced lunch
- less than one percent need English as a Second Language (ESL) services
- 58 percent white, 29 percent African-American, 10 percent Asian
Kindergarten
- 695 students (in grades K-8, class sizes fall into the 650-700 range)
- 22 percent eligible for free and reduced lunch
- 30 percent eligible for ESL services
- 53 percent white, 23 percent Asian, 20 percent African-American
Heitsch said the district has a 92 percent graduation rate; the statewide average is 82 percent. He also shared this data from the State of Michigan Department of Education parent dashboard:
- 70-80 percent of FPS graduates go to college
- about 66 percent need no remedial coursework in college
- more than 80 percent of FPS college freshmen return for their sophomore year
- 33 percent of high school students are taking college courses while in high school
- 26 percent of middle school students are taking high school-level classes
- 41 percent of high school students and 19 percent of middle school students take at least one career or technical course
Farmington Mayor Steven Schneemann and Farmington Hills Mayor Ken Massey also spoke during the event, hosted by the Greater Farmington Area Chamber at the Costick Center in Farmington Hills. Farmington city council member Maria Taylor live-streamed a portion of the event on Facebook:
