DMPS Continues to be One of Iowa’s Fastest-Growing School Districts

The Iowa Department of Education today released the certified enrollment for the 2013-14 school year.

The report showed a second year of enrollment growth state-wide, after 17 straight years of declining enrollment in Iowa schools.

The report also showed that Des Moines Public Schools continues to be one of the fastest growing districts in Iowa. DMPS had an enrollment growth of 351 students this year, the 4th biggest one-year gain in Iowa. Over the past five years, DMPS had an enrollment increase of 1,459, the 3rd largest gain in the state.

The following is the press release from the Iowa Department of Education announcing this year’s certified enrollment.

The overall number of students who enrolled in Iowa’s public schools for the 2013-14 school year increased significantly from the year before, according to the official certified enrollment report released today by the Iowa Department of Education.

This is the second consecutive year that Iowa has seen a large one-year increase in statewide enrollment, following 17 years of declining enrollment.

A total of 478,921 students in kindergarten through 12th grade enrolled in public schools statewide for the 2013-14 school year. That represents an increase of 0.6 percent, or 2,676 students, from the 2012-13 school year. Enrollment peaked in the 1972-73 school year, with 645,000 students.

The recent upward pattern is due in part to a temporary spike in birth rates in Iowa starting in 2003, said Jay Pennington, chief of the Department’s Bureau of Information and Analysis.

“Those rising birth rates leveled off in 2008 and slowly declined to about the same levels we saw before 2003,” Pennington said. “Statewide student enrollment in the years ahead will mirror that pattern. So while it’s great to see our enrollment increase after falling for so many years, we expect these increases to level off in the coming years.”

Of Iowa’s 346 school districts, 156 (45 percent) reported an enrollment increase in 2013-14 from the year before, while 183 school districts (53 percent) reported a decrease. One school district saw no change in enrollment from the year before.

The five-year enrollment trend in Iowa shows a downward pattern for most districts. Of Iowa’s 346 school districts, 217 (63 percent) reported an enrollment decrease in the 2013-14 school year, while 125 districts (36 percent) reported an increase. Four districts had no change during that period.

* Excludes reorganized districts and districts in whole-grade sharing agreements

* Excludes reorganized districts and districts in whole-grade sharing agreements

Under state law, certified enrollment is used in the formula that determines state funding for public school districts. Certified enrollment is based on the number of students living in each school district. It also includes the “weighting,” or additional funding for students in certain programs, such as students who receive assistance in learning the English language.

The certified enrollment count is taken by districts on the first day of October each school year. Official numbers are confirmed by the Iowa Department of Education.

Iowa school districts that reported the largest increases or decreases in the percentage and/or number of students over the past five years are:

* Excludes reorganized districts and districts in whole-grade sharing agreements

2013-2014 Certified Enrollment Summary by District

Certified enrollment trends for each Iowa school district can be found here:

• Five-year changes: 2009-2013
• One-year changes: 2012-2013