Panther Prints | Issue 2 | December 2019

6 • News PESHPRINTS.COM
Enrollment anti-boom
Declining growth, charter schools affect student enrollment
by Riya George
district update revealed a declining
A growth rate in Plano schools as student
enrollment data shows a consistent
diminishing trend since 2013. Currently,
PISD has 50,854 students
in grades K-12 —
a 441 student decrease
from the previous
school year. In 2018, the
district saw an 850 student
decrease. The district
believes the main
culprits — decreasing
birth rates and students
moving to charter
schools — will continue
to impact enrollment.
“It’s somewhat a
generational issue that
there’s just lower birth
rates than we [saw]
several years ago,” chief
financial officer Randy McDowell said.
“[Millennials] having smaller families and
waiting later to have families has a big
impact.”
A primary district concern is class
size disparity — kindergarten classes
441
There was a
student decrease in district
enrollment from 2018-19
larger than outgoing graduating classes
— especially as more students move toward
charter schools. Charter schools
are government-funded institutions that
stand independent of
the local district curriculum.
Parents who
choose charters may
seek close-knit communities
due to smaller
class sizes. Plano
charter Legacy Preparatory
Academy claims
students reap unique
benefits because of a
12-1 student-teacher
ratio compared to Plano
East’s ratio of 16-1,
as listed on the Public
School Review.
“We were in the Allen
school district and we
weren’t displeased with it at all,” science
teacher and parent Joanna Anderson
said. “We just decided to take a chance
with the charter school. [The kids] are
very sheltered, all the parents know each
other and we can keep an eye on them a
lot better.”
Though smaller class sizes prompt
students to shift to charter schools,
a lack of diversity is why many charter
school students return to traditional
public schools.
“I feel like [traditional] public schools
are a lot more moldable,” senior and former
charter school student Zachary Hailey
said. “[At charter schools] there were
not many opportunities to go past what
the curriculum lets you do.”
Although data indicates an aging population,
Plano enrollment won’t decline
forever. Between 2010 and 2018, the city
saw a 10.8% increase in population as
well as some of the largest graduating
classes in Texas. According to Templeton
Demographics, as younger families
start to move into the area and multi and
single-family apartments continue to appear
within city limits, developments offer
prospects of growth for the district.
“I actually think enrollment will go up
in the next 20 years or so,” Anderson
said. “ I think if parents do their research,
they’ll realize [traditional] public schools
do offer a really great product.”