By the numbers
Traditional district-run public schools continued to shed students at a faster rate this year while enrollment at independent schools through the parental choice program and at independent public charter schools saw healthy growth, according to recent headcount data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
The count of students in traditional district-run schools dropped by more than 14,500 to 777,677, a decrease of 1.8 percent, according to the headcount done in all Wisconsin schools on the third Friday in September.
Since the 2004 headcount, traditional district-run schools have lost nearly 92,000 students, or about 10 percent of their 2004 enrollment.
Enrollment in independent public charter schools increased by 542 students over the past year, to 12,8321. Among private schools, enrollment by students using parental school choice programs increased by 4 percent to 60,972.
Combined, all types of publicly funded enrollment fell by 11,662, or 1.4 percent, from over 863,000 last year to 851,470 this September. Since 2004, the number of publicly funded students has decreased by 4.2 percent, a loss of 37,000 students. District-run schools educate 91 percent of publicly funded students, down from 92 percent last year. Independent charter schools educate 1.5 percent, up from 1.4 percent, and private schools educate 7.2 percent, up from 6.8 percent last year.
