No Exodus: Elmhurst D205 Enrollment Stable

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst School District 205 has seen no definitive exodus of students since the pandemic.

During the pandemic, critics around the suburbs warned that rules such as masking would result in more students going to private schools for years to come.

That has not happened in Elmhurst.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, officials presented the district's latest enrollment as of Sept. 30. It compared the number to the same date in previous years.

From 2015 to 2019, enrollment in District 205 rose to 8,596, from 8,326, an increase of 3.2 percent.

In 2020 and 2021, enrollment dropped 4.9 percent, to 8,178.

Over the last couple of years, it increased, to 8,329. That's 3.1 percent lower than it was on Sept. 30, 2019.

But for elementary school students – from kindergarten through fifth grade – enrollment was the highest in the last nine years as of Sept. 30.

The previous high over those nine years was in 2019, with 3,526 students. As of Sept. 30, the district reported 3,560 students in that category, 34 more students than in 2019.

Local middle schools have seen a 4.9 percent reduction in enrollment in that same time, with 1,803 students as of Sept. 30.

At York High School, enrollment generally rose in the years before the pandemic. Since 2019, it has dropped 7.4 percent, to 2,670.

Madison Early Childhood Center reported 296 students as of Sept. 30. The number dropped during the pandemic, but current enrollment is similar to 2019.