Fall enrollment in Washington public schools increased by nearly 2,000 students over last year

Fall enrollment in Washington state’s public schools increased by nearly 2,000 students compared to last year, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction announced Wednesday.

Enrollment for second graders saw a 6.3% jump, the largest increase for all grade levels, according to a news release from OSPI.

Running Start, a program that allows high school students to earn high school and college credit simultaneously, also saw a 4.3% increase, while 11th-grade enrollment jumped by 3.3%, and fifth-grade enrollment increased by 1.7%.

But there were declines in enrollment for some other grade levels, the agency noted.

The largest decline was in first-grade classrooms with a 3.7% decrease in enrollment. Eighth grade had the next largest decrease at 2.5%. Kindergarten and third grade both saw a 2.4% decrease as well.

“In the earlier elementary grades, continued declines in enrollment appear to be attributed to additional homeschooling and declining birth rates,” the OSPI news release said.

The numbers are key for local school districts because state funding is based on student enrollment. But statewide data by school district isn’t available until end of January.

“While our enrollments are continuing to climb, they aren’t yet where they were before the pandemic, and many of our school districts are making tough financial decisions as a result,” said State Superintendent Chris Reykdal in the news release. “The impacts on local budgets are compounded by persistently high inflation.”

While Congress provided $3 billion in federal funding for Washington public schools over multiple years during the pandemic, those funds are set to expire in September 2024. School districts are likely to spend that funding prior to the deadline.

The OSPI news release said that the federal funding made up just 3-5% of the average school district’s budget and that “the $800 million provided each year only slightly offset the $600 million that districts lost in state funds after a decline in student enrollment at the height of the pandemic.”

In the 2022-23 school year, OSPI allocated a portion of the federal funding to the Attendance and Re-engagement Program in order to re-engage students who “disconnected from school or who are at risk of disconnecting from school.”

More than 8,000 students have been served by the program in Washington and 56% of the students who were not enrolled at the beginning of the program re-enrolled later. The agency also noted that 94% of the students enrolled at the beginning of the program were still enrolled by the end of the school year.

OSPI targeted $4.75 million to school districts, state-tribal education compact schools, and regional educational service districts “with the highest historical rates of student absences and/or students who have disengaged from school without graduating.”

The agency has requested more state funding from the Governor and Legislature as the upcoming 2024 legislative session approaches to build out “early warning data systems focused on attendance,” the news release said.

The legislative session begins Jan. 8.