OXFORD – When school opened two weeks ago, SAD 17 had fewer students registered than when it was formed in 1966, according to figures released recently by school officials.

The annual opening day student population count, which is unofficial, showed 3,416 students in kindergarten through grade 12 compared to 3,700 in 1966.

“There’s no credibility in the September numbers,” Superintendent Mark Eastman said. Those numbers can shift significantly as school gets under way, he said.

“There could be a 40- to 60-student increase, which is good news in terms of subsidies,” he said. For example, about 30 preschool students are expected to be in school in mid-September.

Student enrollment numbers were presented to directors last week as part of the reports on opening day, but the more accurate numbers are those that will be reported to the state Department of Education on Oct. 1.

At that time, school officials will report student populations by school and town, and could include students who live in the district but attend public schools outside the district, or private schools that are paid with public funds. Home schooled students aren’t in the count.

These numbers, averaged with a student population count on April 1, are used by the state Department of Education to determine state subsidy amounts for the district, which makes an accurate count essential, officials said.

Eastman said the student numbers were pretty close to projections, but did put some classrooms at higher than hoped for numbers.

The total of 26 students in one class at the Harrison Elementary School “is a problem,” he said. Although an educational technician was put in the classroom, Eastman said he is looking at adding another teacher to offset the high teacher/student ratio.

Eastman said the Harrison Elementary School is heading toward one class per grade, down from two per grade, which mirrors the state trend of decreasing enrollments in the elementary levels.

“At the middle school we projected a big class of 285. We got 295 (students in grade 7,)” the superintendent said. There were 250 eighth-grade students.

Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School reported 1,115 students: 273 freshmen, 270 sophomores, 328 juniors and 244 seniors. The large junior class reflected in part an unnamed number of students who haven’t received their credits necessary to be seniors. That number may shift again, Principal Ted Moccia said.