Borough School Enrollment To Continue Downward Trend

As predicted, enrollment in the Franklin Lakes Public School District went down this year, but not by as much as the district was anticipating.

According to a presentation to the Board of Education on enrollment numbers at a meeting Tuesday night, Franklin Lakes Superintendent Frank Romano said there are currently 1,281 students enrolled in the district.

That’s a drop of 30 students from last year. However, it is not as big of a drop as was predicted in a demographic study carried out last year, which guessed enrollment would go down by over 50 students.

“Typically, we drop about 30 students per year,” Romano said Tuesday night. So far, this year’s numbers are, “not as bad as what was predicted,” he said.

Romano did point out that the inclusion pre-school program added to the district during the 2007-2008 school year does skew the numbers a bit, as enrollment before that did not include kids in the pre-K program, and now it does.

“If we compared apples to apples, the decline would actually be greater,” he said. “But, we have those [pre-K] kids. They’re real, and they’re here, and they count,” he said.

Romano said the district will continue to monitor enrollment numbers and borough developments, including a potential multi-family development at High Mountain Golf Club.

“I think we should have an answer on [what will happen with that potential development and its possible impact on enrollment numbers] soon," Romano said.

In the meantime, Romano said the district will continue to monitor enrollment with demographic studies at least every two years.

“Projections can never account for the economy or development,” Romano said. “We are doing the best we can with what we have.”