Coupeville School Board’s October meeting came with some bad news on student population. For the first time in five years, enrollment in Coupeville schools didn’t increase in October, usually one of the highest months for a student count. In fact, the number of full-time equivalent students actually decreased by an additional 8.2.

The school district currently has 952.1 FTE students, which is 31.14 below its original budget projection. According to Coupeville School District Business Manager Janet Fisher, this works out to be about a $145,000 decrease in apportionment funding. At this time last year, the district had an FTE count of 1,022.45.

The count is “significantly below where it’s been in previous years,” Fisher told board members at their Oct. 18 meeting. “It’s certainly disturbing, and we’ll need to strategize how to deal with that.”

Superintendent Patty Page said there is no indication that numbers will increase and she anticipates that the numbers will continue to decline. However, Page pointed out that the district will receive about $200,000 this month from the Education Jobs legislation.