Most NC school districts are gaining students again. But Wake isn’t one of them. Why?
The number of students is falling again in the Wake County school system, even as it’s inching back up in the rest of the state’s traditional public schools.
Wake County is reporting an average daily membership of 158,412 students this school year — 348 students fewer than last year and 1,000 fewer children than projected. Wake’s drop comes as it faces increasing competition from charter schools, private schools and homeschooling that’s intensified since the pandemic.
The school board’s facilities committee looked at this year’s membership figures on Wednesday as part of a review of school crowding figures.
In February, the committee will get updated long-range enrollment projections and recommendations on which schools should have enrollment caps for next school year. Despite the drop in students, some parts of the county have severely overcrowded schools.
Wake enrollment dropping
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wake County had a record high 161,907 students in the 2019-20 school year. But the number of students dropped sharply statewide in traditional public schools during the 2020-21 school year.
In the 2020-21 school year, Wake’s enrollment shrank for the first time since 1982 following decades of continuous growth.
But as schools returned closer to normal, the number of students in Wake rose last school year to 158,760 pupils. County planners predicted the district would continue to grow and reach 159,542 students this school year.
Instead, Wake’s enrollment dropped and is nearly 3,500 students below pre-pandemic levels. Wake remains the state’s largest school district.
Superintendent Catty Moore told board members Wednesday that Wake has more students than are being counted. The state doesn’t count students who missed too many days of school in the membership figures.
The district’s drop this year stands in contrast with the rest of the state.
North Carolina’s traditional public schools still have fewer students than they did before the pandemic. But their average daily membership has gone up slightly each of the past two years.
According to EducationNC, Wake is among 30 school districts whose average daily membership declined this school year compared to the prior year. Out of the state’s 115 school districts, 82 saw increases and three saw no change from last school year.
Charter school growth
Part of the reason for Wake’s drop is due to the opening of Wake Preparatory Academy just over the county line in Franklin County. The new charter school opened with more than 1,900 students, many from Wake.
Enrollment has risen 6% this school year and more than 19% over the last two years in the state’s charter schools.
“That charter schools saw yet another sizable increase in enrollment this year hammers home the fact that parents both want and deserve options in public schooling,” Lindalyn Kakadelis, executive director of the N.C. Coalition for Charter Schools, said in a news release in November when the state initially released enrollment figures.
Additionally, the state’s private school enrollment grew last school year by the largest number since the 1970s. That trend could continue as state lawmakers have expanded which families can receive state-funded vouchers to pay for tuition at private schools.
School Choice Week
“Education is not one-size-fits-all,” Senate leader Phil Berger tweeted Wednesday in commemoration of National School Choice Week. “That’s why the #NCGA expanded school choice options for all North Carolina families.
“There’s still more we can do, and I remain committed to strengthening parental choice so children can attend schools that best fit their needs.”
Some districts, though, have rebounded better than others from the pandemic. Andrew Houlihan, superintendent of Union County Public Schools, attributed high-quality schools, a safe environment, strong culture and a fantastic staff with how the district now has more students than it did in 2019.
Union County has more than 41,000 students to make it the 6th-largest district in the state.
“School and district leaders MUST recognize that competition is real,” Houlihan tweeted in November. “Find out what your competitors are doing to draw Ss (students) away. Then, create strategies to do THAT better and bring them back!”
