Charles City schools report increased enrollment for 3rd consecutive year

‘Count Day’ – or the day school districts physically count how many students they have in their classes – came back positive for the New Hampton school district; as they reported a bump of 6 students from last year to this year.
It also came back positive for Charles City schools – with this year being the third year in a row that the district has reported an increase in enrollment.
Superintendent Mike Fisher says this was a deliberate effort by his staff.
The certified enrollment for the district is up 12 students from last year:
- 1548.88 in 2019-2020
- 1560.92 in 2020-2021
This influx is significant for two main reasons. The first has to do with school funding – as the state gives each district around $7,000 for each student it is serving. The second has to do with the history of the district’s enrollment numbers:
- Between 2014-2015 and 2017-2018 the district lost on average of 21.75 students per year
- Now that trend has flipped as between 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 the district is adding 19.6 students per year
Fisher says these numbers are even more impressive when considering the difficult circumstances of the last year in the area.