The cost of sending Bedford students to West High School in Manchester has gone up as enrollment has gone down in high schools across the city. Manchester had projected it would have 6,000 students in its high schools this year, however, the city was off by about 500, according to School Board Chairman David Sacks.

“It’s a lot,” Sacks said. “It’s a huge margin.”

The difference cannot be blamed on the opening of Bedford High School, since the city had planned for that and since the disparity in numbers is across all city schools, according to Superintendent Tim Mayes.

Bedford High School opened this year with nearly 600 students in grades 9 and 10. The school district still sent about 445 students in the two upper grades to West High. Next year, an estimated 215 seniors will remain in Manchester, as Bedford High School transitions to three grades. The following year, Bedford High will have a full complement of four grades.

This year, it will now cost an estimated $400 to $500 more per student at West. The school district had already agreed to pay $200 more, as a transition fee, budgeting a total of $7,400 per student, according to Mayes.

For next year, the district had budgeted $7,700 per senior, including the $200 transition premium, according to a presentation at a January public hearing.

That rate is now at risk of going up as well, but if and how much has not been determined. Manchester bills Bedford based on an estimated tuition rate. According to the tuition contract between the two communities, the estimate for this year was due to Bedford in November 2006, so it could prepare a budget for a public hearing in January 2007 and public vote in March of that year. The city usually reconciles its estimated rate with actual costs in October after the school year ends.

If Bedford were ever to pay more than what tuition actually costs, the additional amount would be deducted from what it owes for the next year. But if the school district was billed less, it would have to make up the difference the following year.

This is the first time Manchester has updated its estimate in the middle of a school year, said Mayes.

Sacks said the School Board has decided to pay the additional amount for the 2007-08 school year at the end of its current fiscal year in June, tapping into an estimated $600,000 surplus.

“We are grateful that Manchester let us know,” Sacks said. “This way, we were able to take an action and we were also fortunate that we had a surplus to cover this.”

The higher tuition could cost the district between $178,000 to $223,000 more than what it had planned this year. Bedford had budgeted approximately $3.3 million for tuition to West in the 2007-08 school year, according to documents on the school district Web site, www.sau25.net.

Sacks said the School Board will be closely monitoring any possible increases in the tuition for 2008-09. If tuition is again more than expected, Sacks said the board may seek a supplemental appropriation for the upcoming school year on the March 2009 ballot. The operating budget for the year was approved at the March 2008 election.

The increase, Mayes and Sacks said, will not affect any school district programs nor will it have any direct impact in the tax rate. If the district takes the money out of its surplus, Mayes said, that will mean it has less money to offset the tax rate next year.

“It’s a bill we have to pay,” Mayes said. “We’re obligated to pay by contract.”