Those who keep track of school enrollment trends won't be surprised to learn that the Clark County (Nev.) district reported another sizable increase from 2005-06 to 2006-07. It surpassed 305,000 students — 12,000 more than the previous year.
But what might surprise people is that in 2006-07, Clark County was the only one of the nation's 13 largest school systems to report an enrollment increase of any kind.
The downward enrollment trend shown in this year's AS&U 100 — a compilation of the nation's 100 largest school districts — is unmistakable. Added together, the 100 largest districts had 10,708,137 students in 2006-07, compared with 10,763,959 in 2005-06. Even districts that showed steady growth throughout the 1990s and the early part of this decade are dealing with stagnant or declining enrollment.
Twenty of the top 25, 33 of the top 50, and 57 of the top 100 districts reported fewer students in 2006-07 than the year before. On a percentage basis, the systems with the most significant enrollment decline were Detroit, whose numbers dropped by 10.60 percent, and Cleveland, which fell by 11.44 percent.
Two growing districts cracked the ranks of the 100 largest in 2006-07. The Loudoun County (Va.) district on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., was the 85th-largest district with 50,416 students. The Lewisville (Texas) district joined the list as the 95th-largest district with 47,317 students. Dropping off the list were the Oakland (Calif.) and Alief (Texas) districts.
Ten-year enrollment patterns show greater fluctuations in the list. Districts that were among the 100 largest in 2006-07 that have dropped off the list: St. Paul, Minn.; Indianapolis; St. Louis; Newark, N.J.; Escambia County, Fla.; Shelby County, Tenn.; Ysleta, Texas; Seattle; Buffalo, N.Y.; Minneapolis; Caddo Parish, La.; Cincinnati; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Jefferson Parish, La., and Orleans Parish, La. Of districts on the 2006-07 list, Detroit experienced the greatest 10-year decline: a loss of 65,000 students, or 35 percent.
The fastest growers from 1996 to 2006 were Loudoun County and Douglas County, Colo., each of which more than doubled. Clark County's 70 percent increase over 10 years represents an additional 126,000 students.
The 100 largest districts in 2006-07 had an overall population in 2005 of more than 70.2 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. On average, school district enrollment accounted for 15.25 percent of the overall population, ranging from a high of 32.23 percent in the Katy (Texas) district to a low of 7.58 percent in the San Francisco district.
In addition to Clark County, larger districts that bucked the no-growth trend in 2006-07 included Gwinnett County, Ga., which added more than 7,000 students and became the 16th district with more than 150,000 students. In North Carolina, the Wake County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg County districts each added more than 7,000 students.
With the addition of Lewisville and the subtraction of the Alief district, Texas still has 18 districts on the list, the most of any state. Florida, with countywide districts, has 14 districts among the 100 largest, but of the seven in the state with enrollments greater than 100,000, every one lost enrollment in 2006-07. Of the 13 districts from California on the list, 10 reported fewer students in 2006-07.
In higher education, the online behemoth University of Phoenix, without the facility constraints that can put a ceiling on quick growth, continues to hold the top spot as the institution with the most students. In 2006-07, it had 224,880 students enrolled, an increase of 91 percent from the previous year.
The AS&U 100 has been published every September since 2002, and most years the enrollment data has come from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (2006). However, the center reports that its compilation of 2006-07 data has been delayed because of several factors.
In its place, the chart published with this article uses enrollment data for 2006-07 and 2005-06 that was collected from education departments in the various states or from individual districts. In general, the enrollment numbers generated at the state and local level are close, but not identical, to the ones that eventually will come from the federal government.
Enrollment data from the 1990s and 1980s come from the NCES, as do the 2006-07 higher-education enrollment numbers. The per-pupil expenditure figures and population estimates come from U.S. Census Bureau reports.
Feeding the beast
The three largest school districts in the nation's largest state all experienced enrollment declines in 2006-07. The numbers are smaller, but there still are plenty of students. Together, the Los Angeles, San Diego and Long Beach districts accounted for more than 929,000 students, and providing adequate facilities for them is a pricey proposition.
The three California systems have something else in common: In November, each of them will be asking voters to approve bond issues in excess of $1 billion.
In the Los Angeles Unified School District, billion-dollar bond proposals have become old-hat. Voters approved four ballot questions in eight years: a $2.4 billion package in November 1997; a $3.35 billion package in November 2002; a $3.8 billion request in March 2004; and a $3.985 billion proposal in November 2005.
But district officials say it still has $60 billion in capital-improvement needs. So they are going back to voters to seek approval of a $7 billion package. District officials say the bonds would enable the district to address repair and safety needs, improve technology, create smaller schools, and incorporate more green approaches into facilities management.
In San Diego, voters will determine the fate of a $2.1 billion proposal. The measure comes 10 years after district voters approved a $1.51 billion bond package. That program paid for repairs at 161 schools, construction of 12 new schools and the rebuilding of three schools.
The bond this fall seeks funds to repair outdated student restrooms, plumbing and roofs; upgrade classroom technology; improve school safety and security; replace outdated portable classrooms; and make other improvements.
The Long Beach Unified District decided to put a $1.2 billion proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot after a comprehensive facilities study. The analysis determined that major renovations are needed at 38 percent of schools, and moderate renovations at 36 percent. Eighty percent of the school district's buildings were constructed before 1970.
The bonds would enable Long Beach to retrofit schools for earthquake safety and handicap accessibility; improve energy efficiency; reduce crowding; and make other improvements.
Splitsville, Utah
The Jordan school system, the largest in Utah, is nestled comfortably at No. 41 on the list of the 100 largest districts. But not for long. In a couple of years, it is likely to disappear from the list.
That's because residents on the east side of the district voted last year to pull out and form a separate school system. Proponents of the split argued that too many resources were going to west-side communities and that east-side issues were not given sufficient attention.
The split officially occurs in 2009. The remaining Jordan district will serve the communities of Bluffdale, Herriman, Riverton, South Jordan and West Jordan, and is expected to have a student enrollment of around 45,000. The new, east-side district will serve Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Midvale, Sandy, Alta and unincorporated Salt Lake County, and is expected to have about 35,000 students.
While some 80,000 students continue to fill the classrooms of Jordan's 90-plus schools, the grown-ups are trying to work out the messy details of the break-up. Some things have gone smoothly — the new district has hired an assistant state education commissioner as superintendent, and a new school board has been elected.
But financial issues have yet to be resolved. The split will give the east-side district 43 percent of the students, but it also will have 57 percent of the tax base. The remaining west-side district is expected to grow more than the east-side communities; a feasibility study in 2006 found that over the next five years, the west-side schools would need $585 million for capital facility needs, and the east side would need $194 million.
At the same time, residents in the east-side area expressed resentment that projects promised in a 2003 bond issue for their area were not completed.
Transition teams for each district have negotiated for several months to divide the assets of the existing school system and whether one district needs to reimburse the other to make the split equitable. The teams have been unable to agree on a plan, and the financial questions are headed to arbitration.
Raising Arizona State
With more than 51,000 students in fall 2006, Arizona State University's Tempe campus is fifth on the list of largest colleges and universities. Like most large institutions trying to remain competitive and recruit students, Arizona State has many construction projects in the works.
University officials want to boost the number of students living on the four Arizona State campuses to 12,000 by 2015. In Tempe, the school plans to construct 10 buildings on the south end of campus that will accommodate 5,000 students.
The first of those facilities — called Vista Del Sol — opened for the fall semester. Built in partnership with a private developer, the 1,866-bed building has one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units. Like many university housing projects built in recent years, it offers numerous amenities: a community center, theater, tanning salon, retail plaza, fitness center, swimming pool, game room and flatscreen TVs.
Elsewhere on the Tempe campus, Arizona State is erecting a new home for its honors college. Workers broke ground last year on a $120 million home for Barrett College. The 8.25-acre campus will provide housing for 1,700 students, as well as include a central dining facility. The project will have seven buildings and a total of 510,000 square feet of space — 431,000 of that residential.
The new space will have a sustainable living community, with low-consumption plumbing fixtures, enhanced energy monitoring, a green roof and organic garden offering students the opportunity to study and experience sustainable living concepts. Other amenities will include a fitness center, computer lounge and lab, amphitheater, classrooms, outside activity courts and dining hall with covered terrace, a garden and special dining rooms.
Largest in higher education
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Source: National Center for Education Statistics, College Navigator
Kennedy, staff writer, can be reached at [email protected].
About the Author
Mike Kennedy
Senior Editor
Mike Kennedy, senior editor, has written for AS&U on a wide range of educational issues since 1999.