Flint schools push Wednesday attendance on Count Day amid $14M deficit and state relief request

FLINT — On a morning when a Mickey Mouse sighting and a chicken-and-waffles lunch were the district's draw, Flint Community Schools were working to put every student in a seat for a reason that goes beyond one meal: the number on Wednesday's roster is the one that will set this year's school funding.

Wednesday was Michigan's fall student Count Day, the day each public school district counts the students who are enrolled and present for official pupil membership. The fall count determines about 90% of a district's annual per-pupil state funding, with the remaining 10% set by the February count. At the 2026-27 per-pupil foundation allowance of $10,300 — up $250 from $10,050 the prior year — every student in a seat Wednesday is a line item. Flint Community Schools counted 2,541 students on last fall's Count Day, according to state enrollment data.

Superintendent Kevelin Jones put the stakes directly. "Count Day is very important and is more vital now than it's ever been," he said. "You have to have students enrolled in order to be able to continue to move the district forward". "We want to make sure every student is accounted for in our district," Jones told families. "It's important for Flint".

A $14 million gap

The attendance number Flint locks in Wednesday will land in a budget already deep in the red: Flint Community Schools is reporting a $14 million deficit and has formally requested financial assistance from the state. The district's broader reported debt stands at approximately $56 million, and federal Title funds cannot be used for infrastructure or debt relief. Jones has said state relief could help the district address its debt and update its school facilities.

The Flint Board of Education adopted a resolution urging the Michigan Legislature and state officials to provide that financial relief. It is a plea Flint has made before: the district adopted a debt-relief resolution on November 15, 2023, and Jones renewed the request in a January 26, 2024, statement seeking state help with the district's legacy debt. A 2023 state program allocated roughly $114 million in debt relief to six financially distressed districts — Pontiac, Benton Harbor, Muskegon Heights, Ypsilanti, Willow Run, and Inkster — but Flint Community Schools was excluded.

A plea to Lansing

The relief request now sits with the Michigan Legislature and state offices that would decide whether to answer. Michigan State Board of Education President Dr. Pamela Pugh has publicly thrown her support behind the district's plea.

"The fiscal challenge facing the Flint Community Schools demands immediate and decisive action," Pugh said. "As Flint Community Schools stare down a daunting operational deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, coupled with the imminent depletion of the ESSER funds, we are on the brink of a full-blown financial emergency. This is not merely a budgetary shortfall; it's a looming catastrophe that threatens the educational future of our children".

Her backing makes the district's ask visible as the community watches both Wednesday's count and Lansing's answer play out at the same time.

At the school door

At Southwestern Classical Academy, at 1420 W. 12th Street, the message to families was local and direct. The school posted its own Count Day reminder naming October 7 and urging students to attend, telling families that enrollment counts help support the school's funding, programs, and resources. The district's own announcement to families put it plainly: "Every scholar counts — and October 7 is Count Day," with the message "October 7 — Be at school. Be counted".

"When your scholar is present, they are counted as part of our school community, helping support the funding, programs and resources our scholars need throughout the school year," the district told families.