How low enrollment could affect East Texas schools

HENDERSON — Over the past decade, public school enrollment has been declining across the nation. Now, that trend is starting to impact at least two school districts in East Texas, according to our news partners at KETK. At Palestine ISD, Director of Public Relations Larissa Loveless said she has worked for their district for 24 years. When she first started, she was an elementary school principal, and their campus had about 740 students. This year, that number is about 670 students. This trend is one her district has seen over the past 3 to 5 years, lower enrollment in lower grade levels and higher enrollment in middle school and high school. This year, their kindergarten class has 188 students, but in previous years, Loveless said they’ve had 225-240 students in that class.

“You know, at first we kind of attributed it to Covid and people getting back in the swing of things, but as it’s been more consistent and other studies have come out, it appears we aren’t alone in that interesting fact of how things have developed,” Loveless said.

At Henderson ISD, this trend has also been a topic of conversation over the past few years, especially for planning their annual budgets, based largely on their average daily attendance (ADA).

“As we look from a broader perspective, we really can see a gradual decrease, or a gradual lowering, a trend downward in our enrollment and in our ADA,” Director of Communications David Chenault said.

Since 2019, Chenault said their district’s ADA is down about 5% district-wide. While it’s coming from all grade levels, it’s mainly affecting their younger students.
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Now, Chenault and Loveless have been wondering why it’s been happening.

Chenault spent some time on the U.S. Census Bureau website and found what could be one factor.

“We’re seeing a population decrease or downward trend in population numbers in kids who are school-aged kids,” Chenault said.

Data from the Texas Department of State Health Services does show a slight and gradual birth rate decrease in Anderson County, where Palestine ISD is located, over the past 10 years. However, numbers have stayed fairly consistent in Rusk County, where Henderson ISD is located.

Loveless said another contributing factor which could be contributing is that homeschooling has become more popular.

Data from the Texas Home School Coalition shows an upward trend of children withdrawing to start homeschool across the state, especially in the past three years.