By the numbers
Wisconsin’s school regulator, the Department of Public Instruction, recently released annual enrollment figures for every school in the state.
You can read a report on the release here.
The underlying numbers
Enrollment in traditional district public schools fell by 1.1% from the previous year, the sharpest drop since 2017, other than in the pandemic year of 2020. The figure has fallen every year since 2013 and now is below 800,000.
Enrollment in independent public charter schools rose 4.1%, and in choice schools by 5.5%.
That said, traditional district public schools still enroll about 92% of all Wisconsin schoolchildren who use public funding for their K-12 education. This is down from 97% in 2009.
The breakdown between independent public charters, choice and districts:
The actual enrollment figures by sector by year:
| Year | Charters | Choice | Districts |
| 2009 | 6,409 | 20,928 | 871,262 |
| 2010 | 7,488 | 20,996 | 871,550 |
| 2011 | 7,202 | 23,426 | 870,470 |
| 2012 | 7,845 | 25,105 | 871,551 |
| 2013 | 8,409 | 27,485 | 873,531 |
| 2014 | 8,884 | 29,609 | 871,432 |
| 2015 | 9,284 | 32,266 | 867,800 |
| 2016 | 7,906 | 33,770 | 863,881 |
| 2017 | 8,149 | 36,463 | 852,180 |
| 2018 | 8,862 | 40,039 | 847,942 |
| 2019 | 9,108 | 43,377 | 844,154 |
| 2020 | 9,257 | 45,879 | 818,412 |
| 2021 | 10,674 | 48,894 | 814,546 |
| 2022 | 11,138 | 52,062 | 808,076 |
| 2023 | 11,594 | 54,949 | 799,230 |
The cumulative change by sector since 2009:
In percentage terms, since 2009:
- District schools are down 8.3%, or 72,032 students.
- Independent charter schools are up 81%, or 5,185 students.
- Choice schools are up 163%, or 34,021 students.
All figures are from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Published in the Oct. 27 issue of Top Picks.
