By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – March 6, 2021 Money, Money, Money, what will we do without Money" seems to be what's on the minds of the local School District, not on the failure of the local district to educate it's charges. In the 2019-2020 school year the district's enrollment stood at 3,981 students in all grades. If Assistant Superintendent Napier is correct only 3,477 students are considered enrolled in the entire school district as of February of 2021. Unless my math is some how faulty that would mean a decline of 504 students since the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year. If that translates to one million dollars lost for every 100 students, the district could conceivably be at least five million dollars lighter in the district's budget for the 2022-2023 school year. That is if the district is able to hold the line at the current enrollment level. Looks like the Teacher's Union might be looking at a pay cut instead of the current demand for a 5% raise. What is fortunate for the district for the moment, is that the enrollment for the 2019-2020 school year is the base line for the funding at least up to 2022-2023. Whew, dodged a bullet there. The problem is, where have all the students gone? And how do we increase enrollment? Not going to be easy, particularly in light of the current way education is offered in this County. Superintendent Napier points to many students moving away from the County, and some have become home schooled. Very likely in reaction to the continued refusal of California to let students fully go back to school. The projected enrollment for the 2021-2022 school year is even lower yet. It is true that some enrollment loss will occur most school years, but not over two hundred students since the start of the normal school year. With continued obstruction by the teachers, who do not appear to want in school learning and resistance from Sacramento, the out look does not appear to be getting any better. Poor educational outcomes, tepid in school learning, and the continued reliance on internet based education will very likely continue to drain the district's enrollment. Those families that understand the paramount importance of face to face education and the damage caused by current practices in the local school district will turn the trickle of departing students into a flood. More and more parents as well as taxpayers are recognizing the fact that the Del Norte County Unified School District's students are being short changed by below average out comes in a State that produces below average out comes. This will only change if constant pressure on the school district to make constructive changes, weed out teachers and administrators who are not on board with producing productive, independent, and critically thinking students. The news has not been good for our local schools. Reports of 36% of the students deemed truant or not attending either in school or on line school. An increase of D's and F's being awarded to students, absenteeism, a substantial decline in enrollment, and district administration unable to explain what is happening. Perhaps it is the product the district has produced in the name of education. One would certainly hope that this was not the case, but what else is there.