Enrollment news is usually grim for metro Detroit schools, and this year is no different -- with area districts losing nearly 15,000 students. But in this era of declining birth rates, increased competition and people abandoning Michigan, some districts are bucking the trend.
Unaudited enrollment figures posted on the state Center for Educational Performance and Information Web site highlight many of the declines, including the loss of nearly 9,000 students in Detroit Public Schools, which now has 84,607 students.
But it's a different story in Chippewa Valley Schools, the Macomb County district that has seen its enrollment surge in each of the last five years. The district gained 242 students in the last year, to a total of 15,896 students.
Chippewa Valley has been growing at a fast clip in its northern end, because that's where the space was to build new homes. But now some of the residents who had moved north are moving back to other parts of the district. Consequently, growth is happening across the district.
At a time when state aid is being cut, the growth helps, Chippewa Valley Superintendent Mark Deldin said.
"When we have modest enrollment increases, that helps to mitigate some of the funding