By Dustin Shipman

dshipman@joplinglobe.com

MILLER, Mo. — Not every school district in Southwest Missouri is seeing growth. Schools such as Seneca, Jasper and Miller are among those that could see fewer students, according to projections put together by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The Miller school district may face the most dramatic loss among area schools. According to the DESE forecast, total enrollment in Miller will go from 609 students in 2004, the base year for the survey, to 477 in 2011. That’s a loss of 132 students — a drop of nearly 22 percent.

Seneca is projected to see a 9 percent drop from 2004 to 2011 and Jasper to see a 3.2 percent loss.

Miller Superintendent Tony Rossetti attributes the decline to several factors and said stopping the loss is a top priority.

“This is an inherent problem for rural Missouri, not just Miller. Some of the other districts that surround us are suffering from the same thing — there just isn’t an increase in growth in rural America,” Rossetti said. “There are a myriad of things here that are reflective of what’s going on in Missouri and the country.”

Rossetti also said that there has been an increase in competition from area private schools and an increase in home schooling in the Miller area. The district also has seen part of the land within its boundaries taken over by corporate farms, as opposed to traditional farm families, or by older families without school-age children.

In 2000, the district had 700 students; this year it has 593, Rosetti said.

“Of course any prediction of future enrollment is just that, a prediction. However, if we take a linear look at where this could be heading and things don’t change, then by the year 2020, we may only have 300 kids.”

Also building

Even with a loss in enrollment, Miller Superintendent Tony Rossetti said a new school may be the answer. The district will close two of its elementary schools and build one new one in its place, which should eliminate the cost and upkeep on the two buildings, both of which were built in the 1940s and ’50s. Money that is saved will be put into renovating the high school. Renovations such as a new roof on the high school have already begun, and Rossetti said district officials are anticipating construction beginning on the new elementary school this November.