NORTHWEST ARKANSAS -- Total public school enrollment across Benton and Washington counties was 85,943 on Oct. 1, an increase of 1.9 percent from a year earlier. Open-enrollment charter schools accounted for 2,604 of those students, an increase of 20.6 percent from a year earlier.
The annual October count for Arkansas school systems, including charter schools, is considered the official enrollment for the year and a harbinger of state funding levels for the next school year. State funding for a district is based on the average kindergarten through 12th-grade enrollment in the first three quarters of the preceding school year.
The Springdale School District is the state's second-largest district this year with 21,828 in kindergarten through 12th grades, according to the data reported by all districts to the state Department of Education.
The Bentonville district is the state's third largest with 16,870 reported for this year. Rogers has a count of 15,697 and Fayetteville's enrollment is 10,017.
Haas Hall Academy, an open-enrollment charter school saw 52.9 percent growth with enrollment reaching 986 students. The school opened campuses in Rogers and Springdale this school year and now has locations in each of the area's four largest cities.
The smallest four school districts in the two-county area lost an average of 3.2 percent of students. West Fork's enrollment dropped 7.8 percent, from 1,074 last year to 990. Also seeing enrollment dips were Decatur, Farmington and Lincoln.
Little Rock's city district, under state control without a locally-elected school board and the home to a growing number of independently operated public charter schools, remains the state's largest school system this year by a 510-student margin over Springdale.
The Little Rock district's count from kindergarten through 12th grade is 22,338.
That's 421 fewer than last year's 22,759, which was 405 fewer than the 23,164 enrollment recorded in 2015-16. This year's number is 1,025 fewer than the 23,363 Little Rock recorded in 2014-15.
The enrollment counts come as two new independently operated charter schools are state-approved to open in the Little Rock district's boundaries in the 2018-19 school year and a third is approved for opening in the 2019-20 school year.
In central Arkansas, besides Little Rock, the largest districts are the Pulaski County Special School District, which has 12,101 students this year, down from 12,199 last year. The Cabot district reported 10,472 in kindergarten-12th grade, up from 10,290. The Conway district's count is 10,001, up from 9,920. The Bryant School District has an enrollment of 9,121, down from 9,134, according to the state report, and North Little Rock's count is at 8,427, up from 8,405 last year.
The Jacksonville/North Pulaski district's enrollment is reported to be 4,306, compared with last year's 3,927. However, Bryan Duffie, the Jacksonville/North Pulaski superintendent, said Friday the state-reported number for the district includes students no longer in the district and, as a result, isn't accurate.
Duffie said the district's kindergarten through 12th-grade enrollment is 3,875, which is lower than last year's count. However, the district for the first time is serving 300 prekindergarteners, putting the district over the 4,000 mark when the littlest students are included.
Elsewhere in the state, the Jonesboro district's enrollment is reported to be 6,209. The Pine Bluff district is at 3,648, and West Memphis is at 5,458.
Statewide, public school kindergarten through 12th-grade enrollment is up by 1,990 from 477,268 last year to 479,258 this year, according to the Arkansas Department of Education's Data Center, which is accessible to the public from the agency's website: arkansased.gov.
Included in that overall state total is the 15,590 enrollment for the state's 25 open-enrollment charter schools. That is up from 13,891 a year ago.
Additionally, the state has 1,053 schools this year and 238 traditional school districts. There are 33,203 certified teachers, 9,461 other certified staff and 29,426 classified staff.
Enrollment in Northwest Arkansas Public Schools
School Districts
District ; Oct. 1, 2016 enrollment ; Oct. 1, 2017 enrollment ; One-year growth rate
Bentonville;16,609;16,870;1.6 percent
Decatur;573;560;-2.3 percent
Elkins;1,190;1,246;4.7 percent
Farmington;2,503;2,475;-1.1 percent
Fayetteville;9,864;10,017;1.6 percent
Gentry;1,407;1,462;3.9 percent
Gravette;1,854;1,909;3.0 percent
Greenland;795;793;-0.3 percent
Lincoln;1,188;1,169;-1.6 percent
Pea Ridge;2,066;2,124;2.8 percent
Prairie Grove;1,909;1,918;0.5 percent
Rogers;15,399;15,697;1.9 percent
Siloam Springs;4,211;4,281;1.7 percent
Springdale;21,527;21,828;1.4 percent
West Fork;1,074;990;-7.8 percent
Total school district enrollment;82,169;83,339;1.4 percent
Open-enrollment charter schools
Charter school;Oct. 1, 2016 enrollment;Oct. 1, 2017 enrollment;One-year growth rate
Arkansas Arts Academy;779;792;1.7 percent
Haas Hall Academy;645;986;52.9 percent
Ozark Montessori Academy;179;262;46.4 percent
Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy;556;564;1.4 percent
Total charter school enrollment;2,159;2,604;20.6 percent
Total public school enrollment;84,328;85,943;1.9 percent
Northwest Arkansas' four largest districts grew an average of 1.6 percent.
General News on 11/08/2017