Iowa City school district expected to continue growing into the next decade

Enrollment in the Iowa City Community School District will grow by 25 percent in the next 10 years, according to a new report commissioned by the district.

The district contracted with DeJong-Richter, which conducted enrollment projections for the district the past two academic years, to generate updated projections.

The new report estimates the district will have 16,317 students by the 2024-2025 academic year.

Board members said they are preparing for the growth by adding new facilities.

'It's a combination of new facilities, renovations, and additions to current facilities,' said school board President Chris Lynch. Lynch said the growth is spurred by economic development over time and young communities, such as North Liberty, within the district. According to the city website,

The expansion and addition of facilities is based upon the district's 10-year facilities master plan, which includes adding a new high school and three new elementary schools.

Superintendent Steve Murley said the district is also preparing for growth by looking at its staff.

'We need to make sure that we have enough staff for the kids in their classrooms,' Murley said. 'We need to make sue we continue to diversify our staff so our staff continues to mirror our students as the demographics change.'

In the past year, the number of minority students in the district has increased 1.4 percent.

And in the last 10 years, the number of English Language Learning (ELL) students has increased by more than 400 percent.

Lynch said that is an 'amazing fact.'

The district has adapted to this growth, he said, by ensuring every regional area in the district has services for this group of students — even if not every school does.

Becky Furlong, chief academic officer for the district, said there are three primary reasons ELL enrollment has grown so dramatically.

Immigration rates have increased across the country, she said, and more of those students may have more intense needs that keep them in the program longer.

The district is seeing more students who may have had little or no education in their countries of origin, Furlong said. Those students need help not only learning English but also acclimating to a classroom setting.

Lastly, Furlong said the U.S. Department of Education is stricter than before about enforcing the proficiency levels students need to reach before leaving ELL programs.

The number of special education students in the district has decreased by almost 6 percent since the 2007-08 school year, according to the report.

Carmen Dixon, director of special education services for the district, said in 2013 the district re-evaluated all students in the program and removed 120 students who were deemed to no longer be eligible for special education service. The re-evaluation was part of a settlement after the district was cited and investigated for over-identifying African American students for special education.

10-year enrollment projections

Since that citation, the district has also put other supports in place to provide targeted and intense supplemental instruction to students who may be struggling in a specific area. That way, they are given a chance to close the gap before they are considered for special education services.

The district also has seen a 5-percent decrease this year in the number of students receiving free and reduced-price lunch — a common measure of poverty in schools. The number of students in that category has increased over the last 10 years, however.

Lynch said he will be interested to see what kind of long-term trend develops.

'One data point doesn't necessarily indicate that there's a change,' he said.