Student Enrollment Projected to Decline in Osseo School District

For the next five years, student enrollment in the is projected to decline.

The District 279 School Board heard a five-year enrollment projections, as part of an annual presentation, at the Tuesday, Dec. 20, meeting.

The enrollment projections are “important for budget and staffing purposes” for the upcoming school year, according Assistant Superintendent Kim Riesgraf during her presentation to the School Board.

Overall, Osseo School District projects student enrollment will decline by about 35 students per year over the next five years. 

Riesgraf said enrollment is “projected to decrease by less than two percent by 2015.” The number of students at every level is projected to “decrease slightly” over the next five years, with the largest decline at the senior high level, district wide. Enrollment is also projected to drop under 20,000 students during the 2014-15 school year.

For the 2011-12 school year, there were 167 less students enrolled in the Osseo School District than previously projected. As of December 2011, the kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment is 20,252 and the projected enrollment was 20,419.  

“This is a pattern we’ve observed when new charter schools have opened in and near our attendance areas,” she told the School Board, stating it occurred in 2007-08 school year and again in the 2011-12 school year.

“Student choice of other public options is growing,” she said.

, located at Zachary Square in Maple Grove, open its doors at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year.

The enrollment decrease seen so far for the 2011-12 school year was across all grade levels except third grade and kindergarten, she said, with the “greatest decrease” at the high school level.

Here are some of the highlights from Riesgraf’s presentation:

• Student enrollment in District 279 has “declined slightly” over the last five years in the kindergarten through 12th grade—from 21,500 students in the 2006-07 school year to 20,300 students enrolled for the 2010-11 school year. 

• Some students residing in the Osseo School District are enrolling in nearby public charter schools. For example, 200 students to Parnassus Prep and 156 students to Beacon Academy in Maple Grove and several Brooklyn Park based charter schools during the 2011-12 year, based on preliminary school district data.

• The Osseo School District losses more students to neighboring school districts through open enrollment than it gained. 

The following is based on 2011-12 number of students (preliminary data) provided to the School Board:  

• District 279 student residents lost to the following school districts: Anoka (467), Brooklyn Center (405), Wayzata (382), Robbinsdale (250), Minneapolis (108), Fridley (100), Hopkins (59) and Elk River (50). 

• District 279 student residents gained from the following school districts: Anoka (369), Brooklyn Center (92), Wayzata (22), Robbinsdale (291), Minneapolis (138), Fridley (17), Hopkins (11) and Elk River (92).  Non-resident students attending Osseo Schools is “slightly increasing,” Riesgraf said.

To view the entire enrollment projection presentation, visit the Osseo School District 279 website.