Oil boom filling schools, bringing growing pains
By ANDREA JOHNSON, Staff Writer ajohnson@minotdailynews.comSchool enrollment is up in some areas thanks to a boom in the oil field business, but it's also bringing growing pains, said some area administrators.
"Stanley's at a unique size," said Stanley superintendent Kelly Koppinger. "... We're at that size where we have to consider splitting classrooms ... if we were a little bit smaller, it wouldn't be a problem for us and if we were a little bit bigger it wouldn't be a problem for us."
Stanley's enrollment was up about 8 percent this school year, jumping from 369 in grades K-12 last year to 396 this year. The school district hired four additional teachers and three additional teacher's aides. There were also additional staff, such as kitchen help or maintenance workers. Koppinger said the extra numbers are welcome, but the revenue the school district has coming in doesn't match its expenditures. He wants legislators to consider restructuring the funding formula for school districts in counties impacted by the oil field business. Those are issues that should be addressed by the state and the federal governments, he said.
Steve Holen, superintendent of the Watford City school district, said his district has picked up about 56 new students, but it has also lost a fair number of students. The net gain is probably about 10 students from last spring. Holen said most of the new students have parents who came to the area because of the oil business or a related business such as truck driving or other service industries.
"We hope it's a reoccurring trend," said Holen. "It's been awhile since our district has been increasing in numbers."
Gary Wilz, superintendent at Killdeer, also said there's been a slight increase in student numbers thanks to the oilfield or related businesses, but it's not a huge increase.
"We can obviously handle more kids here," said Wilz, though he said Killdeer has always held its own with student enrollment compared with other small school districts in the state.
Williston has picked up approximately 85 new students in grades K-12, said business manager Connie Blatherwick. She said the district hasn't had to hire new teachers, but some teachers at the high school are teaching an extra class period and receiving some additional compensation for teaching more classes.
Koppinger, who was also an administrator in the Dickinson school district and is familiar with the oil boom there, said he thinks the current oil boom will be around for a while, at least until an alternative energy source is in place. With additional business comes the need for more adjustments. Stanley, like other small towns, had planned for declining student enrollment and gradual depopulation and wasn't necessarily ready for such a fast turnaround in population.
Housing is in short supply in Stanley right now, he said.
"If we had 50 housing units available, we'd probably sell them the next day," he said.
Additional oil companies are moving into the area and will be employing several people, which will require more housing and infrastructure, Koppinger said. But he also said the oil field companies are good neighbors and the business will be good fortune for Stanley in the long run.
