Three weeks into the school year, enrollment for the 2022-23 school in the Round Rock school district looks very similar to end of the year numbers from last year.
Round Rock school district officials said they are pleased with the current enrollment numbers and expect an increase in the coming months.
As of Wednesday, three weeks into the school year, the district has a total of 46,394 students, according to district enrollment reports.
Superintendent Hafedh Azaiez said those numbers are near the district’s end-of-the-year enrollment numbers for the 2021-22 school year. Last year at the same time the district had 47,194 students, including those enrolled virtually. By the end of the 2021-22 school year the district had 46,642 students.
Most districts in the area have suffered lower than expected enrollment due to the pandemic. Round Rock schools spokeswoman Jenny LaCoste-Caputo said in January that the decline in student attendance was a “long-term worry” for the district.
According to district records, enrollment at the district rose steadily every year from 2011-12, when it was 44,590, through 2019-20 when it peaked at 51,058 as the pandemic began.
To help boost enrollment, the district on July 15opened enrollment to students outside its boundaries for the first time. Azaiez said the district received and accepted approximately 100 student applications. He said the additional students will give the district up to $1 million in state funding.
Next school year, he said, applications for those living outside district boundaries will open earlier.
“It really helped but we announced it late and we only had it open for a couple of weeks, ” Azaiez said. “I believe if we do it next year, early on, I think we will have hundreds more students in our school district.”
While overall enrollment numbers remained good, officials said, the district saws dips in elementary enrollment. As of Wednesday, the district has a total of 20,640 elementary students, according to enrollment reports. Last year at the same time the district had 21,072 elementary students, which increased to 21,160 by the end of the year.
Azaiez said he doesn’t think the current dip in elementary enrollment will have a negative effect in the future. Azaiez said that with increased construction in the area and home values going down, he think the numbers for all grade levels will go up.
“Parents who move here, move here to have their students go all the way from K through 12 in our system, so right now a lot of kids are in middle school,” Azaiez said. “We’re going to see things turn around again.”
As enrollment numbers remain similar and the district is still suffering from teacher shortages, Azaiez said they are working to ensure teachers aren’t overwhelmed with class sizes.
“We have few classrooms over the typical desired number,” Azaiez said. “Classroom sizes right now are good and helpful to our teachers so they can do a great job with our students. We’re not seeing a lot of crowed classrooms.”
As of Tuesday, the district had 120 teacher vacancies and 146 vacancies for campus support staff. Support staff include non-exempt paraprofessionals and auxiliary staff.
Maritza Gallaga, a spokesperson for the district, said class sizes vary due to factors such as campus enrollment, grade level enrollment and subject.
“We’ve worked really closely with campus leaders to make sure that campus operations can function and that classrooms are covered and that students are getting the education they deserve,” Gallaga said.
