L.A. Unified enrollment continues to fall, but drop is cushioned by influx of 4-year-olds
Students enrolled in the San Francisco Unified School District’s low-income elementary and middle schools had their hopes dashed this fall, but the district said things may be picking up after the opening of the district’s new elementary school, which is projected to open in the 2015-2016 academic year.
The low-income elementary schools lost 1,749 students through the year, which is the third consecutive year that enrollment has fallen, leaving it with a total enrollment of 3,831 students, according to district data.
But attendance at the low-income middle schools is up, to 4,054 students.
The Los Angeles Unified School District recently opened its new elementary school, a project that is projected to open in the 2015-2016 academic year. (Steve Ringman/W.W. Grainger/Los Angeles Times)
Some of the middle schools that lost students this fall are experiencing higher enrollment in the 2015-2016 school year, but officials said the district will have to monitor the enrollment trends again next year as it continues to monitor the new high school location.
The district said the number of 4-year-olds enrolled in the schools at the opening of the middle school this fall is the largest number the district has experienced since 2013.
The district started the four-year-old, high school project at the beginning of this academic year in response to the growing enrollment at the middle schools that was affecting the schools’ ability to offer classes to students.
Students are welcome to attend both middle and elementary schools in Los Angeles Unified. (W.W. Grainger/Los Angeles Times)
By law, schools must have a certain number of middle school students and certain number of elementary school students — but it is the second of those requirements that has created some problems for the middle school project, according to district officials.
The law mandates that schools have between 20 percent and 25 percent of their students in the elementary school and 10 percent to 15 percent of their students in the middle school.
But when the district opened the project at the beginning of this school year