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Ojai schools begin classes
STORY TOOLS 
More from Education: K-12Hundreds of students flooded the halls of Ojai schools this week as the 2007-08 school year started, but those halls were a little less crowded than last school year.
The number of students in the Ojai Unified School District has dwindled over the past eight years, and officials have blamed rising housing costs that have priced young families out of the market.
Ojai Unified has dropped from nearly 4,200 students in 1999 to about 3,200 at the end of the last school year.
With state funding based on the number of students in schools, districts in decline take big budget hits.
But, Superintendent Tim Baird said, there is some good news this school year.
The district expected to lose another 150 students, but it looks like the drop will be less than projected.
District officials were working this week to pin down exact numbers. Classes started on Tuesday.
"It's a positive sign," Baird said. "But one year does not a trend make."
Declining enrollment can make staffing schools a challenge. Districts try to staff conservatively, having to predict how many students will show up at each school.
Ojai Unified has had to deal with some of those bumps, but Baird said opening week has gone well.
"It was very smooth," he said. "I think there was a general sense of excitement."
This year, Ojai Unified will be initiating a new student information system, which will streamline the process teachers use to access student data.
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