The state’s annual Condition of Education Report (PDF) was issued last week and has plenty of statistics. One being brought up often in news articles is the increased number of minority students, although if you look in the charts (p. 11) the percentage is much higher in the state’s 11 largest districts (enrollment 7500-plus).
Here are two other notable statistics that, along with the one above, says more about the condition of overall enrollment:
• At the beginning and end of a 25-year period, from 1988-89 to 2013-14, public school enrollment increased less than one-half of 1 percent (476,771 to 478,921). (p. 3)
• In 2013-14, 44 percent of Iowa’s school districts educated 12 percent of Iowa’s school children. Those districts have a certified enrollment under 600. Nearly one-third (31.4 percent) of K-12 students are in the state’s largest 11 districts. (p. 5)