The county’s nearly 3,900 school children arrived back to classes last week. Enrollment numbers are up about 2 percent from the end of the 2022-2023 school year, according to a survey of the county’s school districts.
In all, 3,856 were in classrooms. That’s up 64 from the previous year.
The biggest jump occurred at Plato, where 593 are enrolled. On the last day of school in May, the count was 547, the district said. That’s up 46.
Summersville saw its enrollment increase to 479, up 38 from the end of school in May.
The head count at Licking also is up. An estimated 800 finished the year at Licking. This year, the count was 826. (Different software was in use to calculate enrollment during the last school year, officials said). At Houston, initial enrollment on the first day was 997, down 19 from May 2023.
At Raymondville, the numbers were unchanged from the last school year. At the end and the start of the year, the enrollment was 128. At Success, the number was 111, down seven from the end of the last school year.
Superintendents say enrollment generally goes up after the Labor Day holiday as families get settled and parents place their children back in school.
Cabool Superintendent Karl Janson said 722 were in classrooms for the first day of school on Aug. 22. That’d down 20, but he was hopeful enrollment would go up after the holiday. “Even with the heat it has been the best first week of school for me in 24 years,” he said.
Houston enrollment numbers on first day
Pre-K – 66
Kindergarten – 67
First-Fifth – 292
Sixth – 71
Seventh – 64
Eighth – 74
High school – 363
Total enrollment – 997 on Aug. 21