Enrollment Projections Down for Wake County Schools

Raleigh, N.C. — Enrollment projections are down for Wake County schools. The school board met Wednesday to review the data.

This year, fall enrollment in Wake County was nearly 134,000 students. That was an increase of 6,000 over the previous year, but 2,000 fewer than expected. Because of that, the long term projections had to be lowered.

The county will still need to build several new schools over the next decade. What these lower numbers could mean are fewer year-round schools, or fewer mobile classrooms.

County officials expect an extra 6,400 students for next school year. The following year, another 6,600 students are expected and another 7,200 for the third year. Combined, nearly 6,000 fewer students will attend Wake County public schools by 2011, than previously thought.

The Wake County school system is officially the largest in the state. The district has 65,690 elementary school students, 29,975 middle school students and 38,347 high school students. Last year, the district had 62,395 students in elementary schools, 29,031 in middle schools and 36,646 in high schools.

No decision was made as to what these new numbers will mean for school construction, or the need for future bonds. The county and school board will sort that out later.