Schools left and ADM

Moving up a class is, initially, sort of like moving up to a higher tax bracket. Or so it seems, anyway. When a man moves up to the next tax bracket, what generally happens is that he will have made enough money that year to barely get into that bracket. That being the case, and, again, generally speaking, the additional (income) taxes he pays for the year will far exceed his additional income. And/or his additional investment into his business or whatever. Been there, done that, so I know at least something about it.

Similarly, if a school (pick one) is forced to move up to 2A from class A, initially it is going to be 'tough sledding' simply because the school in question *barely* has a 2A ADM to begin with. If said school can continue to grow its ADM, then its chances of having success at the higher level (2A vs A) will get better. If not, then the school is probably going to be relegated to having success at a rate more or less equivalent to its success on first moving up. Exceptions granted, of course.

Small schools like Ringling eg cannot really control their ADMs. A whole bunch of that depends on the general attitude in the town(s) as far as growth. Another factor is meeting or exceeding (or not) the replacement rate, which is roughly 2.1 kids per woman; if a small community like Ringling et al does not meet the replacement rate, or perpetually falls below it, then eventually all of those chickens are going to come home to roost. There are always numerous factors involved in all of that, all of which are basically, or essentially, outside the control of the average guy: what he can control amounts to very little; what he can't control is a much broader category.

But anyway, just musings on a subject that is of some interest at least to me...