Enrollment in Idaho’s K-12 schools continues to grow.
The State Department of Education’s latest statewide fall enrollment tally is 306,242, up 3,900 students, or 1.3 percent, from last year. The overall growth reflects a continued trend in Idaho, where annual enrollment has risen by at least one percent almost every year since 2003, adding some 50,000 students over that time.
Of note, the West Ada School District, Idaho’s largest, continues its own growth trend, reporting an additional 900 students this year, up 2.3 percent to just under 40,000. Over 13 percent of all Idaho public school students attend West Ada schools.
Idaho’s largest online charter school, Idaho Virtual Academy, saw a slight decrease – 1-tenth of percent – following a more than 7 percent drop a year ago.
Enrollment relates to how Idaho funds public schools and charters by using an average-daily-attendance calculation. However, leaders say the 1994 model is outdated. A legislative interim committee spent over two years studying the formula. The panel last month formally recommended a new student-centric, enrollment-based model to lawmakers who convene their 2019 session in January. (IdahoEdNews.org)
