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Wissahickon reports steady 5-year enrollment and highlights savings from in-house virtual academy
Summary
District reports 10th-day enrollment of 5,135 students, discusses class-size guidelines and capacity concerns, and notes that the Wissahickon Virtual Academy (run with the Montgomery County IU) currently enrolls 18 students and costs the district far less per student than cyber charters.
Wissahickon School District administrators told the board Sept. 29 that tenth'day enrollment for the 2025'26 school year stands at 5,135 students and that overall totals have been relatively steady over the past five years.
The presentation broke enrollment down by school: Blue Bell elementary reported about 500 students; Shady Grove was listed as the largest elementary with 689 students; Stony Creek had 636; the middle school had 1,256 students and the high school 1,458, according to slides shown at the meeting. The superintendent noted kindergarten enrollment was 351 this year.
District leaders also reviewed the district's class'size guidelines and administrative limits from the policy chart presented to the board: kindergarten upper limit 22; grade 1 upper limit 24; grades 2'3 upper limit 26; grades 4'5 upper limit 27. "In kindergarten, our upper limit is 22," the superintendent said while referencing the BoardDocs chart.
Board members asked about capacity and cohort effects. One trustee noted that larger kindergarten cohorts in prior years have worked their way through the system and could create larger middle and high school classes; the superintendent and staff said they are monitoring cohorts, enrollment projections and building capacity and will return more detailed projections later in the year.
Charter tuition and district virtual program costs drew extended comments. The board reviewed figures showing Wissahickon pays externally operated cyber or brick'and'mortar charter schools a per'pupil tuition of about $16,000 for regular education students and roughly $40,000 for special education students. By contrast, the district'run Wissahickon Virtual Academy (a partnership with the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit) currently enrolls 18 students; staff said the district's cost per typical virtual academy student is about $4,000. A board member calculated that shifting 18 students from outside cyber charters to the in'district virtual academy saves the district roughly $12,000 per student, or "close to a quarter of a million dollars" in total annual tuition savings.
The board also heard several related operational items that will come forward for approval at a subsequent meeting: a payment to the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit for "age of beginner" summer services in the amount of $17,558.05 and an outplacement tuition item for one student. Administration noted that counts of students in cyber and brick'and'mortar charters (25 in cyber, one in brick'and'mortar noted on the slides) are not included in the district'wide enrollment totals, while students in the local virtual academy and at the North Montco Technical Career Center are included in district totals.
District staff said they will continue to monitor schools that approach class'size upper limits (board members flagged fifth'grade numbers at Shady Grove) and will consider resource adjustments if warranted.
No formal enrollment'related vote occurred at the Sept. 29 meeting; the slide presentation and supporting data were provided for board review and future planning.
