Last Wednesday was the student count day in Michigan, the first of two days on which the public schools count their students to determine the amount of state money they receive.  (The first, in September, determines 75%; the second, in February, determines 25%.)  Normally this isn’t a major news story; most people don’t pay too much attention to count day.  But the dismal financial condition of the Detroit Public Schools, the prolonged teacher strike, and the resulting drop in student enrollment made count day a top story for Detroit news outlets.

The news stories preceding count day were dominated by gloomy estimates that the schools had lost some 25,000 students — a precipitous drop compared to the previous estimates of 9,000.  Officials cautioned that it was early, and that the numbers were not yet complete, but the number made for good headlines.

In the shadow of such dire proclamations, Detroit made every effort to lure as many students to school on Wednesday, turning schools into small carnivals with free food, face painting and raffles featuring prizes such as backpacks, laptop computers and lunch with a rapper.  However, the early numbers suggested only mixed success from the attendance blitz; some schools gained enrollment, others lost, and the best estimates still left the district with a loss of 19,000 students.

Detroit’s count day hysterics illustrate a problem with the concept of setting a school’s funding based on two days.  The problems are simple: two days is only a small fraction of the full school year, and the schools know the days their enrollment affects their finances.

Limiting count day to only two days, and particularly to only one day at a time, allows desperate districts to push to artificially pad their numbers through decidedly non-educational means — essentially the enrollment version of teaching to the test.  A school that knows its numbers are declining can make gaudy efforts to limit their losses by attracting students whose state funding stays in the district for a while, even if the student doesn’t stay; in Detroit’s case, the district appealed to students through parties and giveaways.  Even if the schools are not so calloused as to make no effort to retain students — I am not cynical enough to believe there are that many administrators who would actually do so — someone has to realize that at least some of the students who come for the iPods, laptops and lunches with rappers aren’t going to stick around for much education.

This contrasts with the free-market principles displayed in private schools; in an online Detroit News editorial, Manny Lopez noted, “The parochial and private schools already get it. Everyday is Count Day for them. If they don’t deliver a safe, quality education, their customers leave.”  But public schools can retain some level of state funding by artificially boosting attendance two days a year, even if some of those students attend only infrequently the rest of the year.  In a sense, they can receive nearly full-time pay for part-time students, if those students are part-time at the right times.

To avoid letting temporary students have a hand in state funding, perhaps a better solution would be to expand and mystify count day.  Instead of using only two well-publicized days to set enrollment, perhaps the count could be taken from more days over a longer time period.

One possibility would be to use counts from ten days over six weeks, and without publicizing the dates being counted.  This would serve two purposes: it would provide a more accurate picture of a district’s typical population, and it would prevent declining or money-hungry districts from staging count day hysterics to pad enrollment.  One unusual day, good or bad, would neither hurt healthy districts nor help ailing districts; the former would not be hurt by one below-average day, and the latter could not improve their finances with transient students.

State funding for public schools should be immune to enrollment exaggeration; if a school does not retain students, then it should not retain state funding.  The state ought to rewrite the count day policy to compel schools to focus on consistent attendance rather than iPod-driven rental students.