Centennial SD reports modest continued enrollment decline; class-size hot spots prompt targeted teacher deployments

Centennial School District staff presented a fall enrollment update at the Sept. 24 work session, reporting 5,464 students enrolled as of Sept. 19, with the district continuing to experience a modest decline in total enrollment since 2016.

Director Sotherton said the data reflect students who attended at least one day this school year and cautioned that October 1 historically marks the year’s highest headcount; the district was still cleaning up ‘10-day drops’ that remove students not attending for 10 consecutive days.

Superintendent Owens and staff said fluctuations are driven in part by statewide declining birth rates and by local housing patterns: the district is seeing growth on the south side while overall students-per-resident remains lower than earlier years. The district’s Flow Analytics demographic study — completed last spring — projects a modest decline of less than 1% per year with current assumptions.

Officials provided grade-level ratios and class-size distribution. The elementary average class size for general-education classrooms (not including specials) is 24.7 students. Middle-level teacher-to-student ratio was 1:22.22 (noting secondary prep periods make effective class sizes higher), and high school effective class sizes were calculated around 24.5 before adjusting for free periods and Cal campus time.

District staff identified specific elementary hot spots and remedial actions: additional “hot-spot” teacher positions were approved and deployed to Pleasant Valley Elementary (added kindergarten teacher) and Butler Creek (added first-grade teacher). Park Lane and Patrick Lynch were signaled for voluntary overflow and family transfer outreach as possible noncoercive ways to rebalance counts; staff said they would first seek voluntary transfers before deploying other options.

The board discussed split/blended classes, with staff noting blended-grade classrooms are generally avoided because of curriculum alignment but remain a tool in limited circumstances. Board members asked for continued monitoring and suggested updating enrollment inputs to reflect recently permitted housing in rapidly developing neighborhoods.

District staff also reviewed how state “weights” for special education, ELL and poverty affect funding. The district reported about 1,285 ELL-weighted students (about 642.5 additional weights), approximately 800 poverty-weighted students (census measure) and noted the state’s cap on special-education weights remains in place. The district said weighted enrollment is expected to translate to roughly 6,625.63 weights for funding calculations; staff noted the per-weight general purpose grant was forecast at about $11,250 in state school fund revenue for the year.