PORT TOWNSEND — A decade-long decline in student enrollment appeared to reverse this fall in four North Olympic Peninsula public school districts, and one Jefferson County district is even projected to grow in the next five years.
State officials say it’s only a hiccup in most of the districts and that fewer students is the expected trend for the next five years.
Quilcene is the only district projected by the state to grow in that period.
Enrollment increased in the Port Angeles, Chimacum, Quillayute Valley and Cape Flattery school districts, while the decline continued unchecked in the Sequim, Port Townsend and Crescent school districts.
Seven of the 10 school districts in Jefferson and Clallam counties — including those in Chimacum, Port Angeles and Forks — are projected by the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to continue losing students for the next five years.
The smallest districts, Brinnon and Queets-Clearwater, are projected by the state to remain stable.
An influx of additional students translates into increased funding for schools.
With each student enrollment resulting in $5,500 in state funding, gains and losses in enrollment can have major impacts on public school district budgets for everything from hiring teachers to limiting class sizes.
There has been an increase in home sales on the North Olympic Peninsula, but there is no one who is tracking whether families with children or retirees are moving into those homes, said Dick Pilling, spokesman for the Port Angeles Association of Realtors.
There is no obvious answer for the increase of students in any one area, Pilling said.
Port Angeles
In the Port Angeles School District, the largest district in the region, declining enrollment has resulted in the closure of two elementary schools in the past decade, but for the past two years, enrollment declines have slowed.
The most recent count shows an increase.
The district had a total of 3,684 students, or 3,466.82 FTEs, in the most recent November count.
In 2012, the November student count was 3,673, or 3,446.05 FTEs.
“We are 85 full-time-enrollments over budget,” said Kelly Pearson, director of finance.
The additional students add up to more than $460,000 in funding the district will receive from the state.
“It’s all good stuff,” Pearson said.
District staff members were unable to identify any specific reason for the increase.
Some of the change in FTEs can be attributed to the state’s funding of full-day kindergarten, which doubles the funding for each kindergarten student, but the growth was spread across grade levels and included overall increases at elementary, middle and high school levels, Pearson said.
New students could potentially include new district residents, transfers from local private schools or formerly home-schooled students.
“This is the first time we’ve had an increase in enrollment since I’ve been on the board. That’s 12 years,” said board member Patty Happe.
“And there are about the same number of kindergartners and seniors,” she added, noting another first during her tenure.
November’s numbers show 295 kindergartners and 302 seniors enrolled in the district.
Sequim
Sequim School District’s enrollment continued to decline, and the district’s 2,754 student enrollment this year was lower than expected.
Over the summer, the district budgeted 2,631 FTEs, but in October the district registered 2,618 FTEs.
The district anticipated a loss of 50 students from 2012-13 to the 2013-14 school year but instead is down 78 students, said Brian Lewis, district business manager.
“We’re expecting continued declines until 2019, when we think we will stabilize at 2,500 students from the current 2,618,” he said.
The district’s enrollment by grade shows a clear decline in student numbers from the upper grades to the lower, with 222 high school seniors compared with only 189 kindergarten students.
The largest class in the district is 268 students in the ninth grade, and the smallest is 177 students in the second grade.
Once the last of the larger classes graduate in 2019, the district’s enrollment should stabilize at about 2,500 students, Lewis said.
Quillayute Valley
“We are pretty stable in Forks with the overall number hovering around 1,100 FTE in our ‘brick-and-mortar schools,’” said Superintendent Diana Reaume.
After a long slide, the district has added 25 to 30 or more students at the elementary levels each year for the past two years, Reaume said.
“It fluctuates at each grade level and we have not identified a real pattern,” she said.
In 2012, the district had 1,065 FTEs, and in 2013 enrollment has jumped to 1,085 FTEs.
The district has a high student mobility rate, with turnover at about 15 to 20 percent as students move to and from neighboring districts — often within the same school year, Reaume said.
Quillayute also runs an online school, Insight School of Washington, which adds several hundred virtual enrollments each year.
Cape Flattery
Cape Flattery School District, which includes schools in Neah Bay and Clallam Bay, reported a small increase in enrollment this year after years of a very slow downward trend.
In 2012, enrollment in the small district at the northwestern point of the county had 437 students, 427.63 FTEs, which jumped to 443 students, 440.7 FTEs, in 2013.
The increase is small, and Superintendent Kandy Ritter said it doesn’t mean growth in the future.
“[Enrollment is] barely stable,” she said.
The small district has lost an average of five to six students each year for the past 10 to 15 years, with brief periods of stability.
With a very small enrollment, class sizes vary, Ritter said, and noted that this year’s increase is due to a large incoming kindergarten class that replaced a relatively small outgoing 2013 senior class.
Crescent
In the Crescent School District in Joyce, enrollment continued a steady decline in 2013, but the drop was predicted by school officials.
District enrollment was 221.26 FTEs in 2012 and dropped to 203.87 in 2013, just under the district’s projected budget for 204 students.
“I wish we had another 10 students. I’m hoping and expecting that numbers to go up later this year,” said Superintendent Clayton Mork.
The district had about 300 students in 2007, and is projected by the state to drop to about 200 students by 2018.
Port Townsend
The Port Townsend School District is in the midst of a steep drop in enrollment — one that Sara Bonneville, director of finance, said could be tracked with a straight line on a graph since 2008.
In 2012, Port Townsend had 1,279 students, or a full-time-equivalent enrollment, or FTE, of 1,213.75.
But in October, only 1,228 students were enrolled.
In 2007-08, Port Townsend schools had 1,462 students, Bonneville noted.
“As a percentage, that’s 12 or 13 percent,” she said.
Bonneville noted that enrollment at the high school tends to be higher than elementary and middle school because area private schools offer classes only through the eighth grade and home-school students can enroll in part-time selected classes in high school.
Chimacum
Chimacum School District classrooms had more students in 2013 than 2012.
Enrollment in November 2012 was 1,003 FTEs.
This month, that number had jumped to 1,054 FTEs, said Art Clarke, business manager.
The new all-day kindergarten funding accounts for 38 FTEs, but the remaining 13 are new students to the district, Clarke said.
According to the state, the district lost about 100 students since 2007, and is projected to lose another 100 or more by 2018.
Quilcene
Quilcene School District’s enrollment is fairly stable, and increased by about six students in 2013, from 199 in 2012 to 105 in 2013, said Superintendent Wally Lis.
However, Lis said the trend is beginning to change.
“Enrollment has dropped off a bit,” he said.
The district is one of the few in the region that was projected for growth by 2018, but that projection may need to be revisited, he said.
That expected growth is stymied by a lack of jobs in the small community, he said.
Parents who seek work elsewhere tend to enroll their children in the town where they work, he added.
Brinnon
Brinnon School District, which serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade, has a stable enrollment, with only small annual changes in growth or loss of students.
The change of one student — from 32 in 2012 to 33 in 2013 — is typical for the district, said Lis, who is also part-time superintendent in Brinnon.
Like Quilcene, some students who live in Brinnon are enrolled elsewhere, to be near their parents’ workplaces, he said.
Students who complete the eighth grade at Brinnon School typically continue their educations at Quilcene High School.
Queets-Clearwater
The tiny West Jefferson County K-8 school district of Queets-Clearwater has held steady enrollment in the mid-20s for more than a decade, said Superintendent Michael Ferguson.
In 2012, the district had 23 students, and an FTE of 22.5. In 2013, it planned for 23 students and 22 enrolled, Ferguson said.
The average enrollment is about 25 students.
Students who complete the eighth grade at Queets-Clearwater School typically continue their educations at Lake Quinault High School.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
