Londonderry staff say three years of shrinking enrollment could allow full‑day kindergarten by 2026–27

LONDONDERRY, N.H. — District staff told the Londonderry School Board on Aug. 5 that three consecutive years of falling enrollment have created space in the elementary schools that could allow the district to implement full‑day kindergarten in the 2026–27 school year without a voter‑approved capital bond.

The 44‑page enrollment, space and staffing study presented to the board projected that K–5 enrollment has fallen from about 1,745 students in 2022 to roughly 1,474 a year from now, freeing classroom capacity across North School, South School and Matthew Thornton that administrators say can accommodate full‑day kindergarten by 2026–27.

The study matters because it offers a path to full‑day kindergarten that district leaders say would avoid a multi‑million‑dollar bond requiring 60% voter approval. “We have the space right now to start full day kindergarten next year by ’26, ’27 without modulars or the need for 60% voter approval for capital needs,” a staff presenter said at the meeting.

District projections and space plan District staff said the district saw three unusually small incoming cohorts in a row: current second and first grades are each about 25% smaller than historic averages, and the incoming kindergarten cohort was described in the presentation as about 40% smaller than earlier years. That pattern, the presentation said, would free roughly seven classrooms compared with the district’s needs in 2022.

Administrators presented room…