Tri-City schools counted more than 51,300 students enrolled in K-12 programs this month, a sign that local school districts are slowly recovering after the drop during the COVID pandemic.
The tally includes all students enrolled, either part-time or full-time, in Kennewick, Richland and Pasco public schools.
Richland School District’s figures stood out.
Staff reported at last week’s school board meeting an increase of 110 students, for a total of 14,100 this fall. Those numbers will likely change some as schools finalize their enrollment counts.
The district saw growth in all grade levels except for kindergarten, which declined by 10 students.
School board President Rick Jansons said on Monday that they were “cautiously optimistic” with their early numbers.
“I think we’re working hard to reach out to parents in our community and let them know they’re part of the solution, and we’re working hard to meet their needs,” he told the Tri-City Herald.
Richland still remains the only district in the Tri-Cities that has seen its enrollment fully rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
In September 2019, six months before COVID interrupted in-person learning for all students, the three Tri-City districts counted nearly 51,500 students, according to OSPI apportionment data .
That means, overall, Tri-City districts are still down over 140 kids.
Kennewick reported a slight year-over-year increase in its September headcount to more than 19,000 students. Pasco saw a slight drop to about 18,200.
School administrators are required by Washington law to record enrollment numbers on the fourth school day of September and report that data to OSPI. That count was taken Friday, Sept. 6.
Subsequent counts take place on the first school day of each month during the school year, from October through June.
Enrollment is important because it’s tied directly to public education funding. For each full-time pupil sitting at a desk, also known as a full-time equivalent, or FTE, schools receive thousands of dollars in general education apportionment from the state.
Districts also receive money from other sources, such as the federal government, local taxpayers and from fees and other programs. But that enrollment apportionment makes up a large chunk of the total revenue that local school districts receive to operate.
School districts also report FTE. This metric is separate from headcount in that it calculates student attendance based on their equivalence to a full-time student.
Enrollment gains in Tri-Cities
Comparing September 2023 headcounts to September 2024, here is the change for each school district in the Tri-Cities:
- Richland: +110, or +0.8%.
- Pasco: -61 students, or -0.3%.
- Kennewick: +19 students, or +0.1%.
Mira Gobel, Pasco School District’s assistant superintendent of schools and emotional learning, said at last week’s board meeting that they’ve seen progressive drops in their K-8 classrooms and a “crazy increase” in high school enrollment over the past five years.
Like other districts, Pasco says they’re working hard to contact students who are still enrolled but have not showed up to school yet. That may include home visits.
Headcounts at Pasco High School, Chiawana High School and other programs totaled nearly 5,960 this year, which is a slight decrease from the nearly 6,000 heads they counted a year earlier.
Nearly 8,000 elementary students and 4,300 middle school students were also counted in Pasco.
Kennewick reported 8,200 elementary students, 4,300 middle school students and 5,800 high school students this month.
Nearly 690 students between grades 9th and 12th grades attend programs at Tri-Tech Skills Center , the district’s optional technical and professional training school.
Statewide, national trends
About 1.1 million students attend class in schools operated by 295 public school districts across the state.
Washington still has not recovered to enrollment levels seen before the COVID pandemic. It’s still down nearly 47,000 students. In 2019, Washington OSPI reported an enrollment high of more than 1.14 million students, according to Seattle Times .
Enrollment declines coupled with rising costs for operations and supplies, as well as a “spending cliff” of COVID stimulus, left several Washington school districts in dire financial straits last spring.
Most grappled with multi-million-dollar spending gaps, while a few — including Seattle Public Schools, the state’s largest public district — were faced with school closures.
School districts here in the Tri-Cities dodged last year’s “ blood letting ” thanks to a number of smart financial strategies — including eliminating some vacant positions — but are still struggling with tighter spending that has impacted some programs.
The national perspective is a bit more complex and fuzzy.
While public school attendance dropped from 49.8 million in 2012 to 49.6 million in 2022, according to Education Week , individual school districts are experiencing a wide gamut of enrollment changes — from massive drop offs to record gains. A rise in private school attendance since the pandemic complicates this.
Demographics also will certainly play a leading role in enrollment over the next decade, experts argue. A rising number of adults are childless and do not expect to have children, the Times reports .
Local News
