"You are receiving this email because you opted to receive information from OSPI about this topic. To manage your subscriptions, click here [ [link removed] ]."

"Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page [ [link removed] ]."

OSPI Default Header




Washington Public School Enrollment Climbs by Nearly 2,000

Superintendent Chris Reykdal

*OLYMPIA?December 6, 2023?*Today, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) announced that enrollment in Washington?s public schools this fall has climbed by nearly 2,000 students when compared to fall of last school year.

The largest increases over the last year are in the 2nd grade (6.3% increase), Running Start (4.3% increase), 11th grade (3.3% increase), and 5th grade (1.7% increase). The largest decreases are in 1st grade (3.7% decrease), 8th grade (2.5% decrease), kindergarten (2.4% decrease), and 3rd grade (2.4% decrease).

In the earlier elementary grades, continued declines in enrollment appear to be attributed to additional homeschooling and declining birth rates.


Enrollment Changes by Grade Level - 2019 through 2023 - Bar Chart

Note: The data displayed in the chart above are from the October enrollment count each year.

Student enrollment has an impact on the amount of state funds that school districts receive to serve their students with dedicated staff, supplies, and other operating costs. To support school districts in continued service delivery and in student learning and well-being recovery, during the pandemic, Congress allocated billions of dollars to schools nationwide, including $3 billion to schools in Washington.

These one-time, flexible dollars were provided over multiple years, and are set to expire in September of 2024. School districts are on track to have all funds spent before the deadline. In Washington, the funds made up just 3?5% of the average school district?s budget, and 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.

?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. ?The impacts on local budgets are compounded by persistently high inflation.?

To reengage students who disconnected from school or who are at-risk of disconnecting from school, OSPI invested some of the agency?s federal emergency relief funds in the Attendance and Reengagement Program during the 2022?23 school year. With OSPI?s portion of emergency relief funds, the agency has chosen to invest in evidence-based, community-driven strategies to support student learning and well-being recovery, prioritizing supports for student groups who were most impacted by the pandemic.

To date, the Attendance and Reengagement Program has served over 8,000 students across Washington state with direct one-on-one support. Of the students served by the program, 56% of students who were unenrolled at the start of the program later re-enrolled in school, and 94% of students who were enrolled at the start of the program were still enrolled at the end of the school year. The students that have been served through this project were selected because they had the highest rates of absences or were completely disengaged from school.

The program enables direct outreach, relationship building, accessing community resources, and supporting students to remain engaged in school or to re-enroll. In addition, the program supports schools and districts in building systems that address attendance and engagement, such as accessing and analyzing attendance data and building staffing teams to deploy to provide interventions and other supports.

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

To sustain this state-level effort as the federal emergency relief funds expire in 2024, OSPI put forward a request to the Governor and Legislature to support more schools and districts in building early warning data systems focused on attendance. The data systems aim to sustain student engagement by detecting students at-risk of disengaging and then deploying staff to support the students. The proposal will be considered during the 2024 Legislative Session.

For More Information

* Enrollment data by school, school district, and by student group will be published to the Washington State Report Card [ [link removed] ] by the end of January 2024.
* See OSPI?s request to fund integrated student supports [ [link removed] ], including early warning data systems to sustain student engagement.
* Watch OSPI?s video series [ [link removed] ] highlighting the Attendance and Engagement Program.

________________________________________________________________________







*ALL STUDENTS PREPARED FOR POST-SECONDARY PATHWAYS, CAREERS, AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT.
*

Led by State Superintendent Chris Reykdal, OSPI oversees K-12 public education in Washington state. Our mission is to provide funding, resources, tools, data and technical assistance that enable educators to ensure students succeed in our public schools, are prepared to access post-secondary training and education, and are equipped to thrive in their careers and lives.

OSPI Building Entrance







*STAY IN TOUCH
*Website [ [link removed] ] | Twitter [ [link removed] ] | Facebook [ [link removed] ] | Instagram [ [link removed] ] | YouTube [ [link removed] ]?|?Contact Us [ [link removed] ]

*SUBSCRIBER SERVICES
*Update your subscriptions, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences page [ [link removed] ]. You will need to use your email address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please visit subscriberhelp.govdelivery.com.

"OSPI provides equal access to all programs and services without discrimination based on sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability. Questions and complaints of alleged discrimination should be directed to the Equity and Civil Rights Director, P.O. Box 47200, Olympia, WA 98504-7200, 360-725-6162 (TTY: 360-664-3631), [email protected]. "

"This Institution is an Equal Opportunity Provider."



?

________________________________________________________________________

This email was sent to [email protected] using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction ? 600 Washington St. S.E. ? Olympia, WA 98504 GovDelivery logo [ [link removed] ]
body .abe-column-block { min-height: 5px; } table.gd_combo_table img {margin-left:10px; margin-right:10px;} table.gd_combo_table div.govd_image_display img, table.gd_combo_table td.gd_combo_image_cell img {margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;}