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Seminole enrollment still declining

The numbers are not as bad as officials had feared, but enrollment in Seminole County public schools this year continues to decline.

New figures out from the state Department of Education show that the drop in students that first surfaced in the fall of 2006 continued for a fourth year.

By the official count, enrollment of pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students is set at 64,102 this year. That’s down 496 kids from last year, and compares with 67,182 in the fall of 2005, when enrollment peaked after several years of steady growth.

Of course, enrollment changes every day, as kids come and go. The winter break, just concluded, usually brings a big shuffle, and those figures will show up in county reports over the next few weeks.

But the official state tally, based largely on a count in October and then another in February, is the important one. It determines how much funding the school system will receive.

And with the count better than expected, the district won’t lose as much funding as it had feared. But Seminole is getting used to falling enrollment and had set aside a reserve in its budget to cover a loss of about 700 students. So the picture is not as bad as it had anticipated.

Statewide, enrollment is up about 6,600 students, after three years of rapid decline that state officials had scambled to explain after being taken off guard when the growth trend reversed in 2006. As they say, it was the economy, stupid. Folks losing jobs and homes have been picking up and leaving Florida – and taking their kids with them.

Enrollment this year also is up in Orange, reversing a two year decline. Osceola is off a tad, and hard hit Volusia’s enrollment is down nearly 800 students.

Chirpy Lake continues to bounce along, however, with enrollment up . It has somehow been immune to the declines that neighboring districts and many others around the state have experienced.