TRAVERSE CITY — More and more Michigan students are going to school outside their district leaving their home school districts missing out on money.
A recent study done by Bridge Michigan shows one-in-four Michigan students attend a separate district, which is up from one-in-six a decade earlier.
Historically, school choice has mostly impacted school districts in more urban areas, but more and more districts in rural parts of the state say they are starting to notice an impact.
Traverse City Area Public Schools Superintendent John Vanwagoner said despite more rural schools reporting declining enrollment, they haven’t noticed any changes.
Vanwagoner guessed the long distance between districts and offering many of the same courses is why they haven’t seen a drop in their enrollment.
“We all as districts in this region strive to provide the best education we can for our kids. If there’s something unique about a district or because they happen to drive past [a school] when they go to work they can choose to do that,” Vanwagoner said.
