Brighton Area Schools enrollment figures are showing a significant gain this year.

In the preliminary figures, Brighton’s K-through-12 enrollment is about 6,140, although Supt. Greg Gray says that figure includes part-time and consortium students. He says the number of students is about 6,050 when counting only in-district students. There are about 2,100 students at Brighton High School, 850-900 at Maltby Intermediate and Scranton Middle School and 450-500 at the four elementary buildings. Last year’s K-12 enrollment figure was 5,974, meaning a significant increase for the 2017-18 term, according to Supt. Gray.

Gray says the number of out-of-district students, called Schools of Choice, is about 700, resulting in an extra $5.3 million in state aid. The district gets $7,625 in state aid for each student, so the enrollment increase will mean a considerable amount of additional revenue for the district. With an enrollment of 6,050 as an example , Brighton would see an increase of almost $580,000 in state per-pupil aid. Despite the enrollment gain, Gray says district buildings are not crowded, attributing that to the re-districting that occurred several years ago.

The fact that the numbers are so high bodes well for the district, since the fall enrollment count – taken the first Wednesday of October - accounts for 90% of state funding, while only 10% of state funding results from the winter count. The count is not yet official since school districts are allowed time to make up for students who had an excused or unexcused absence on count day, or were suspended. (TT)