Meanwhile, Waukee added NT’s entire student population in one year. Again.
The 2013-14 Iowa enrollment numbers, released last week by the Department of Education, show a positive change statewide from the previous school year. However, those gains are not spread out equally.
The North Tama County Community School District fell below the 520-student mark for the first time, a mathematically significant threshold (520=40 students x 13 grades). Its total, based on the state’s formula, is 491.9 students, down from 523.3:
- It’s the 15th-largest percentage drop in the state of Iowa (-6.38%).
- It’s the 10th-largest percentage drop among districts with a high school.
- It’s the 20th-largest numerical drop in the state overall.
- Most concerning of all, it’s the sixth-largest numerical drop among school districts with fewer than 1000 students.
This chart of districts with a major Tama County presence shows that Gladbrook-Reinbeck has dropped substantially from the year the current seniors entered kindergarten.
School districts in Iowa’s suburbs continue to grow by leaps and bounds, taking all five spots in the best five-year percentage trend as shown in the Department of Education’s press release. Waukee took the top slot again, followed by Ankeny, adding 567.3 and 515.6 students, respectively. Those two numbers by themselves are larger than over 100 individual districts, and each could field a Class A football team.
Luverne (76 students) and Prescott (84.8) are the state’s smallest districts. Diagonal (93) is the state’s smallest district with a high school and fourth-smallest overall. It will gain some students when Clearfield (88.2), the state’s third-smallest district, dissolves.
Masked in the statewide increase is an issue that has barely begun to percolate. While the year’s 0.56% rise in enrollment reflects an increase in the state birth rate in the mid-2000s, the birth rate dropped significantly during the Great Recession. Over the next decade, elementary student counts will drop, likely putting more pressure on the state’s smallest districts.