School enrollments continue to fall

Only 17 counties saw an overall increase in public school certified enrollment during the past year. The vast majority of growth was in central Iowa. (Iowa Independent Graphic)

It’s an alarming but consistent trend. Nearly 70 percent of Iowa school districts have seen another year of enrollment decreases.

Of the state’s 362 districts, 249 reported a decrease in certified enrollment last fall, according to a report released Monday by the Iowa Department of Education. Since the 2003-04 school year, over three-quarters of all Iowa school districts have reported a decrease.

Certified enrollment, used in the formula that determines state funding for public school districts, has declined significantly over the past five years in Iowa’s rural school districts.

Districts showing the highest percentage of decreasing enrollment are Seymour (32.7 percent), Riceville (30.9 percent), Olin Consolidated (30.1 percent), Orient-Macksburg (29.7 percent) and South Page (28.8 percent).

Districts the with the largest decrease in number of students are, of course, districts with larger student populations. Leading the list for the largest decrease of number of students during the past five yeas is Des Moines with a loss of 1,356 students. Davenport is a distant second with 768 lost. Sioux City (670 students), Council Bluffs (608 students) and Mason City (349 students) round out the top five.

Of the 31 percent of Iowa districts with an overall increase in certified enrollment during the past five years, the largest percentage was seen by Waukee, which had an amazing 67.5 percent increase. Johnston, Bondurant-Farrar, North Polk and Ankeny rounded out this set of five, each having between 23 and 26 percent increases.

Waukee also led the list for the district with highest increase in students. It was followed by Ankeny, Johnston, Southeast Polk and Linn-Mar.

The strides made by the 112 districts that saw enrollment increases, however, wasn’t enough to offset a statewide decline. The total certified enrollment count for Iowa’s public school districts this year is 477,019 — a decline of 3,590 students, or about 0.75 percent when compared to last year. Because of changes made in enrollment reporting by the 2008 Legislature, this figure is slightly inflated. Without the reporting changes, however, the state still marked a 0.4 percent decline in overall certified enrollment. This marks the 11th consecutive year that there has been a statewide decrease in certified enrollment.

Certified enrollment counts are taken on the first day of October each year. Official numbers, once reported, are confirmed by the Iowa Department of Education. Historic certified enrollment reports can be found on the Iowa Department of Education Web site.