Much of the enrollment growth in Kansas City Public Schools came from the Northeast and from students who are learning English(Getty Images).
After decades of plunging enrollment, Kansas City Public Schools is setting a new trend. The number of students is ticking upward.
For the third year in a row, the district’s enrollment count in late September ran higher than the previous year. Preliminary figures show KCPS added 570 K-12 students since the official count day last year, about a 4% increase.
That leaves it with more than 14,000 students for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic helped bring enrollment to a low point. Including pre-kindergarten students, it has more than 15,000.
With growth come changes in whom the district serves.
Black students, who made up about 58% of the district during the 2024-15 school year, dipped below the majority this year to about 46% of pre-K-to-12 enrollment. Hispanic students represent an increasing share of the district, more than a third this year.
Much of the recent growth has been fueled by families moving into schools that feed into Northeast High School and students who need help learning English.
But growth doesn’t necessarily pause even after students are counted, and the year is in full swing. During the last school year, KCPS added 970 K-12 students between early September — before the count day — and mid-April.
That’s happening again, said Deputy Superintendent Derald Davis. “We continue to enroll new students each and every day.”
Where enrollment growth is happening
Northeast area schools have led the way in increased enrollment, adding hundreds of students both this year and last year.
This year, East High School feeder schools also added 150 students, and the Central High School region added almost 90. Only the Southeast High School area lost students.
Many of those new students are still learning English. The 430 additional English language learners compared to last year account for about two-thirds of the total pre-K-to-12 enrollment growth.
Overall, English language learners make up nearly a quarter of the district. The biggest group of them were born in the U.S., Davis said.
“They may have families that originated from elsewhere,” he said. “If English is not spoken in the home, we still could have many students who arrive at kindergarten with limited English proficiency.”
Hundreds of other students come from Honduras, Mexico and Tanzania.
The growth comes as KCPS prepares to finalize a building plan meant to improve learning and address deferred maintenance issues in a district built for a higher number of students.
A draft of the building plan involves opening, closing and moving schools to different buildings. It isn’t as focused on paring down the number of schools as the plan the district unveiled in 2022.
Enrollment growth makes it easier to justify keeping buildings open and helps bring in the state tax dollars needed to maintain them. But the plan hinges on voter approval of a bond in April 2025.
A district strategic plan calls for KCPS to enroll at least 15,000 K-12 students by 2025, a goal it could hit with about 5.5% enrollment growth over the next year. By 2030, KCPS wants to have 17,000 students.
This article first appeared on Beacon: Kansas City and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.