The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Trend continues in U-46 for declining enrollment

By Seth Hancock
  Enrollment in School District U-46 dropped by 2.1 percent, a loss of 769 students (36,107 to 35,338 total), in the 2022-2023 school year, according to a presentation given to the Board of Education in October.
  This is the eighth straight year of enrollment declines, this being the second largest single-year loss during that span. Enrollment has dropped 12.7 percent since 2014, a loss of 5,149 students since 40,487 in 2014.
  Brian Lindholm, chief of staff, said the district expects to lose “several hundred students per year” to somewhere between 30,000 and 32,000 total students in 2026. He said the district expects enrollment to “stabilize” to a “new normal” by then.
  Lindholm began by saying the “lasting impact of COVID-19 on education in Illinois” has caused enrollment declines “larger than can be explained by state demographics alone.”
  “The enrollment decline is due both to declining birth rates… as well as an increasing number of students being homeschooled, although this is difficult to verify as Illinois does not require homeschooling families to register with the state or local district,” Lindholm added. He said the charter school has also affected enrollment, but there is no evidence of private school enrollment effecting the U-46 numbers.
  The district only saw an increase in enrollment at the early childhood level, an increase of 78 from 1,030 to 1,108.
  Elementary enrollment dropped by 187 students (16,995 to 16,808). Two schools increased by over 30 students, Prairieview (80) and Clinton (31), and four saw a decline of over 30: Ontarioville (-62), Hawk Hollow (-60), Bartlett (-40) and Century Oaks (-33).
  Lindholm noted this is a transition year for Hawk Hollow, which is being converted into a middle school. That effected the decrease at Hawk Hollow and the increase at Prairieview, where elementary students were allowed to enroll prior to the middle school conversion.
  Middle school enrollment dropped by 473 students (5,582 to 5,109). All eight schools declined, six by more than 40 students: Abbott (-96), Kenyon Woods (-88), Tefft (-79), Ellis (-77), Larsen (-59) and Eastview (-47).
  High school enrollment dropped by 258 (12,212 to 11,954) with the DREAM Academy (42) and Larkin (30) the only schools with an increase. South Elgin (-130), Bartlett (-93), Elgin (-70) and Streamwood (-29) all saw reductions.

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