Enrollment at Wichita public schools dropped by more than 600 students this year, continuing a trend that prompted school closures and a plan to consolidate district properties.
Wichita’s total headcount for the 2024-25 school year is 46,556, down from 47,173 last year. Wichita, the state’s largest district, has lost about 4,600 students — a 9% drop — over the past decade.
Enrollment in traditional pre-kindergarten through 12th grade schools remained flat, however, and Wichita’s high school enrollment is the highest it has been in nearly 25 years. Elementary school enrollment is also up for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
District officials said the overall headcount dropped because of a decline in adult virtual education and non-public students who receive special services from Wichita schools.
The district also lost 202 students who were enrolled in Wichita’s Acceleration Academy, a national diploma completion program that closed its Wichita location this year.
Middle school enrollment is down as well, reflecting local birth rate trends.
Each year on Sept. 20, students statewide are counted for their school’s official enrollments. The number is used to determine the district’s per-student state funding for the school year — this year, $5,088 for every full-time student.
The National Center for Education Statistics predicts that public school enrollment across the country will continue to decline over the next decade, reflecting lower birth rates, shifting housing patterns and growth in private and homeschooling.
Wichita voters in February will consider a $450 million bond issue to finance school construction and other improvements — a plan leaders say will reduce the district’s overall footprint and make it more efficient.
The bond plan calls for rebuilding and consolidating dozens of schools in an effort to modernize classrooms and right-size the district. It would also build a new early childhood center, convert two elementary schools into K-8 schools and add a career center focused on construction trades.
Earlier this year, school board members voted to shutter four elementary schools and two middle schools to help fill a $42 million budget gap. They said the move was necessary because of declining enrollment and aging buildings.
