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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Enrollment in two of Pulaski County's three traditional school districts each dropped by hundreds of students between the 2013-14 school year and the current one.
The Little Rock School District, the state's largest district, show that the Oct. 1 student count was 24,800, down 349 students from the previous year, district enrollment figures indicate.
The state's third-largest system, the Pulaski County Special School District, lost even more students over the course of a year — 489 — going from a total of 17,750 students last year to 17,261 this school year, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/1IXzsmx ).
The declines are at least partly due to this year's phase-out of interdistrict student-transfer programs for desegregation purposes, representatives of the two districts said. While both districts saw their transfer student numbers decrease, they did not see corresponding increases in the number of students returning to traditional schools in their home districts.
The North Little Rock School District, which is building new structures or extensively remodeling most of its campuses, increased enrollment from 9,107 to 9,156 students.
"The really positive atmosphere we have here and the positive direction the North Little Rock schools are moving in is exciting for folks," North Little Rock Superintendent Kelly Rodgers said.
The district's school board has approved a $50,000 advertising plan to promote its schools in central Arkansas in advance of the 2015-16 school registration season that begins this month.
"We know we grew. We want to continue growing," Rodgers said. "We've got room in our new schools for growth. That's what the recruitment plan is about."
Enrollment in Pulaski County's nine public charter schools and charter school systems has increased in 2014-15 as compared with the previous year. Charter school enrollment in Pulaski County is 5,615 this school year as compared with 5,111 the year before, according to the Arkansas Department of Education.
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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com
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