Daily Breeze: LAUSD Enrollment Down 2%

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LAUSD enrollment down 2%

This year's decline is attributed to fewer county births and students moving to charter campuses.By Paul ClintonStaff Writer
Los Angeles Unified's total student enrollment has continued its expected decline, dropping 2 percent from 708,461 students last year to 694,288 this year, according to figures released Thursday by the district.

Although the Harbor Area also saw declines, school board member Richard Vladovic said it wasn't as dramatic as he thought it would be.

"It's down 2 to 3 percent," Vladovic said. "We anticipated more."

About 41,000 of the students - or 6 percent of the population - are enrolled in fiscally independent charter schools.

Charter schools reduce enrollment at traditional LAUSD schools by about 1 percent per year.

District officials attribute the drop to a decline in births in Los Angeles County, which have decreased sharply since 1990 but have now stabilized.

The district saw a decline in each grade level, except for 11th and 12th grades.

Economic conditions like job availability and housing costs also contributed to the decline, officials said.

In Local District 8, Gardena High School reported the steepest decline, to 3,211 students from 3,428 a year ago. The school lost seven teachers and an assistant principal, officials said.

At Carson High School, enrollment dropped to 3,466 from 3,508, forcing Principal Ken Keener to cut two unfilled teaching positions.

The school also will lose an assistant principal, local administrator Myrna Brutti said.
About 100 additional students are attending Westchester High School this year (1,837 compared with 1,733 a year ago), which reversed a three-year decline.

The school has fallen from its peak of 2,369 in 2004-05, because fewer students filter in from other, more-crowded schools.

To boost attendance, Local District 3 administrators implemented an open-enrollment policy
that allows any student in the LAUSD attendance boundary to attend the school.