Fewer living-wage jobs. Dwindling affordable housing options. Take these two realities and the result is indisputable, say school district officials across the North Olympic Peninsula.

Fewer families living on the Peninsula means fewer children enrolling in schools.

With the exception of Sequim, seven school districts from Cape Flattery to Port Townsend have experienced declines in enrollment in the last decade.

The continuing enrollment tumble is affecting already tight district budgets that have been affected by too few dollars from state and federal funding sources for several years and escalating expenses, district officials say.

“The whole state funding formula is based on enrollment,” says Art Clarke, business manager for Chimacum School District.

Chimacum, which projects a full-time enrollment of 1,195 students this school year, will have about 230 fewer students than in 1997 and about 36 fewer students than last year.

Thanks in part to enrollment declines, Chimacum district’s 2005-06 school budget cut a certified teacher and seven classified staff, and has left several other positions unfilled to balance the budget.

Budget cuts abound

The budget cutting scenario has been replicated to varying degrees in the Quillayute Valley, Port Angeles and Port Townsend school districts.

The larger problem with declining enrollment, Clarke says, is that districts that lose students are disproportionately affected financially.

“It’s like money for cleaning a building,” Clarke said.

“Whether there are 24 or 35 kids in a classroom, we still need [to pay] to clean it.

“Even with a few less kids [one year to the next], we still need an open library, we need a lunch program.”

If a Peninsula district reports an enrollment decline, it loses anywhere from $5,000 to $12,000 per student from state and federal funding sources.

Some districts receive more money per student because of the variance in Title I federal funding dollars which are distributed based on the number of students classified as disadvantaged.

Jim Jones, business manager for the Port Angeles School District, agreed with Clarke that losing enrollment slowly takes a bigger toll on districts.