The numbers are in. Wichita Public Schools have 536 more students enrolled this school year than last year.
The district’s enrollment as of September 20 was 50,639 students. Enrollment is the highest enrollment since 1975.
“As we added new schools to the district and studied student population projections as we changed the school boundaries last spring, we were prepared for an increase of students. We saw population shifts at every grade level,” Superintendent John Allison said in a statement.
Elementary schools saw attendance jump by 439 students. Middle school enrollment is the highest since 2004, with 10,217 students.
“For the past several years we have seen an increase on the elementary level and now those students have moved upward into the middle school level,” said Superintendent Allison.
Kansas’ school districts are required by the state to take an official headcount of students enrolled on September 20 every year. Full-time equivalency (FTE), the enrollment on which state funding is based, will be calculated from this official count.
