Enrollment in Iowa’s public schools up this year

DES MOINES - Fall enrollment at Iowa's 338 school districts increased for the fourth straight year, with 480,772 students across Iowa attending classes in kindergarten through 12th grade in the 2014-15 school year, state officials announced Friday.

Officials with the state Department of Education attributed the rise from last year's statewide pupil count of 478,921, in part, to a surge in Iowa's birthrates from 2003 to 2008. They noted that the four years of increases followed 17 years of declining school enrollment in Iowa but cautioned that the rate of population growth is slowing and is expected to plateau in the years to come.

'We expect that statewide student enrollment will follow the same pattern in the next few years,” said Jay Pennington, chief of the state education department's Bureau of Information and Analysis.

Two area districts had significant increases in recent periods, according to the state education department's latest data.

The Linn-Mar Community School District saw a 202-student increase this year, among the top five increases statewide in terms of student numbers.

The Iowa City Community School District saw a 1,317-student increase over the last five years, placing it among the state's top five increases in terms of student numbers since 2010.

Cedar Rapids schools had a decrease of 23 students (0 percent) this year and a total increase of 32 students (0 percent) since 2010.

The Marion Independent, Solon, College Community and Clear Creek-Amana districts all saw slight increases in certified enrollment this year.

Despite this school year's overall statewide enrollment increase, a majority of Iowa's public school districts (52 percent) had declining enrollment, with the smallest districts facing the largest losses, according to the state data.

More than 60 percent of districts with fewer than 600 students saw enrollment declines in 2014-15 compared to the previous year, and a large number have experienced declining student numbers in the past five years dating back to 2010.

By contrast, a majority of Iowa's larger school districts, with student populations of 1,000 or more, posted enrollment gains during the current school year. Within the largest district classification of 7,500 students or more, DOE officials reported that nearly 73 percent experienced enrollment increases, and about four out of every five large districts experienced growth over the last five years.

The Waukee school district topped the state both with the largest percentage increase of 6 percent and growth in raw numbers of 484 students in its 8,773 head count for the 2014-15 school year. Other large enrollment increases were reported at Paton-Churdan and Bondurant-Farrar, each with 6 percent growth, and Southeast Warren and Rock Valley, with 5 percent each.

Other big gainers in overall head counts were Ankeny with 444 more students, Johnston with 208, Linn-Mar with 202 and Sioux City with 200.

The certified enrollment count is taken by districts on the first day of October each school year. Official numbers are confirmed by the Iowa Department of Education. Under state law, certified enrollment is used in the formula that determines state funding for public school districts.

The 2014-15 certified enrollment summary by school district is available online: https://www.educateiowa.gov/documents/school-district-certified-enrollment/2015/01/2014-2015-certified-enrollment-summary. Certified enrollment trends for each Iowa school district can be found on the Iowa Department of Education's website: one-year changes: https://www.educateiowa.gov/documents/enrollment/2015/01/2013-2014-2014-2015-certified-enrollment-comparison; five-year changes: https://www.educateiowa.gov/documents/enrollment/2015/01/five-year-certified-enrollment-changes-2010-2014.