School enrollment and required spending

At the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website, you can find the calculations for Dartmouth's required Net School Spending and the amount of state aid that our district will receive. A summary can be found at this link.
Of particular note are the enrollment numbers, which show that Dartmouth was credited with 135 fewer students in the calculation of the FY10 budget when compared to FY09. That decline in enrollment has ...

... a lot to do with the lower growth in required spending since the spending number is heavily dependent upon the number of students enrolled. Last year, the town saw a similar decrease in the number of students with 120 fewer credited to the budget. A year ago, required spending only increased by $225K. This year, it is increasing by only $177K due to continued lower enrollment and a 2% reduction in Chapter 70 education aid. That 2% reduction amounts to $193K.