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Prospect looks for school solutions People worry about waning enrollment By VICKI GUARINO PROSPECT -- Community groups are learning that the school district's twin problems of declining enrollment and shrinking revenue won't be easily solved. Options that seem most reasonable -- merge with a neighboring school district or recruit more students -- would create new difficulties for the small, struggling district. Committees of Prospect parents and school staff say that after investigating options for about a month, no quick solution has appeared. "People are worried," says Prospect parent and committee member Jenny Cone. "They just don't know what to do about it." Prospect, already the county's smallest kindergarten-through-grade-12 district, has seen enrollment slide for the past few years. Enrollment stands at 165. Student counts are significant because state funding -- the largest source of school revenue -- is allocated per student. Superintendent Don Alexander figures the district needs to hold on to 165 students or jeopardize basic programs. Without making some changes soon, however, Alexander foresees further enrollment declines. Prospect will be graduating classes of 20 and more students in the next couple of years, but the classes taking their place are much smaller. Elementary grades have a dozen or fewer students. Cone's committee examined ways to keep local schools open -- her own preferred option. "I like the school here," Cone says. "I think it's very important. Everyone cares so much about the kids." The group agreed that the district would have to recruit students from neighboring districts in the next few years to keep schools functioning. The district might develop, unique, special programs to draw new students, committee members suggest. Without more students, Cone said, "The money just is not there." Other committees have looked at the possibility of joining the Butte Falls or Eagle Point district. Neither merger option appears to offer a low-cost education alternative to the community, says Alexander. Butte Falls High School might not be large enough to accommodate all Prospect students without costly renovations, Alexander's committee learned. And as part of the much larger Eagle Point district, increased expenses likely would force the Prospect community to scale back local education programs. For instance, Alexander noted, staff salaries would have to be raised to equal Eagle Point's. Also, the community would have to contribute to district-wide administration costs. "It doesn't take much of a mathematician to know we'd have fewer dollars than we have now," Alexander said of the Eagle Point option. The Prospect School Board will hold a community forum at 7 p.m. April 6 to review enrollment issues and possible responses to a worsening financial forecast. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA