
Houghton Portage Township Schools will implement a cap on schools of choice on all grade levels in 2025-26. HPTS leaders say the school district is the first to start capping schools of choice in the Upper Peninsula. In the past decade, Houghton-Portage has seen notable growth, especially at the elementary level.
People wanting to be part of your product presents a challenge and we want to make sure that we’re showing our community that we don’t want to grow exponentially these are guardrails that will be put in place for every grade level to maintain high standards for all of our classrooms and all of our students. – Superintendent Anders Hill, Houghton Portage Township Schools
At previous school board meetings, where the public discussed a recently passed school district millage to fund elementary infrastructure and district security projects, some expressed concern that HPTS draws too many outside students, which may hurt other nearby districts. Others raised concerns about the increased taxes for residents living inside the district shouldering the burden of out-of-district students.
About 35 percent of students enrolled at HPTS come from outside the district.
Recent reporting by MLive shared that more students across the state have opted to attend schools further away from home districts or enroll at charter schools, using schools of choice. In the area, MLIVE’s data shows Stanton Township and HPTS schools among the top 25 districts to add students since 2004. Houghton-Portage ranked 21st among Michigan school districts with the largest gain in enrollment during that time, with a net enrollment change of 191 more students, or about 15% more students.
Houghton Portage Township Schools appears as one of the few public school districts that during the same time has brought in more students. While working with the community to develop the recent millage HPTS showed the district has had steady growth in the past 10 years.
Superintendent Anders Hill says HPTS hopes a cap will help control some of the district growth it has seen in recent years.
The whole concept here was to maintain the high standards in our district. And we’re unsure. We got this model from a suburban district downstate. To my knowledge, we’re the first UP school that’s not open enrollment, but capping every grade level. And again, we want to show our community that we’re going to maintain the high standards and make sure we put up guardrails to schools of choice. – Superintendent Anders Hill, Houghton Portage Township Schools
In June, Houghton Portage will announce the number of school-of-choice slots open at each grade level. Hill says a lottery will determine which students attend Houghton Portage if too many students from outside the district apply to, for example, grade 5.
I think it’s important to note that we also saved room for in-district growth and make sure that we are accounting for that. Again, it’s going to be a learning process, but we’re committed to keeping Houghton Portage Township Schools the great product that we have and supporting our community with great education. – Superintendent Anders Hill, Houghton Portage Township Schools
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